Mark and Stuart Swords moved their luxury travel agency from the outskirts of the district into the bustling heart of Wimbledon Village in January, as part of a long term strategy to boost brand recognition after eight years of trading.
The decision to upgrade wasn’t easy; the premises cost five times’ the rent of their previous office and required extensive renovations. But it has quickly proven to be the right decision – placing the shop at the heart of one of London’s most affluent areas, home to the famous championship tennis tournament, Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum and Wimbledon Common.
“We knew in our heads what we wanted, and we knew it would come at a price,” Mark tells TTG Luxury. “We’ve taken a risk, but it’s massively paid off already. When we look at overall figures for the business, we’re up 40% on turnover and 50% on revenue.”
The new space allows for the team to have sales desks right at the entrance, a lounge area for events and further consultations and plenty of back office space for the expanding business.
Swords’ new address has also granted it eligibility for the Wimbledon Village Tennis Windows Competition, an annual event which sees local businesses makeover their exteriors in celebration of the iconic tournament.
Founded in 2013 by Kimberley Salmassian, creator of WV Events, the initiative encourages retail and hospitality establishments to use the tennis mania to promote their respective brands, while also fostering a sense of community during the exciting season.
Participants are also in with a chance of winning an array of luxurious prizes, including Centre Court tickets, a voucher for dinner at The Ivy, and champagne hampers from Fortnum and Mason.
Never one to miss out on the fun, Swords Travel has gone all-out to beat its 70-odd neighbours.
Inspired by the Grand Slam tournament, the team has decorated its front windows with 200 Slazenger balls, several nets, green and purple bunting, and promotional posters for destinations that host the four major tennis championships.
“You can travel around the world with tennis, so we’ve linked that idea by having prints in the window that relate to places such as Paris, Melbourne and the USA,” Mark explains. “We have also matched it up with properties that offer tennis activities, like Sani Resort’s Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre or Pine Cliffs in Portugal, which offers the Annabel Croft Tennis Academy.”
They even jazzed up the store’s signage, adding a tennis ball sticker to replace the ‘O’ in ‘Swords’, and sticking a ‘Game, Set, Travel’ slogan next to the entrance. Mark says that the materials for the creative display cost between £500 and £700 in total – an expense that was ‘well worth it’ for the exposure.
Wimbledon fever
Swords Travel has also embraced the opportunity to gain new clientele during Wimbledon, which sees hundreds of thousands of people flock to the village every June and July.
“It is a crucial time for our global recognition,” Mark says. “The amount of international business we do during Wimbledon is crazy.”
He explains that the tennis season brings Swords ‘a lot of inbound bookings from US and Australian tourists’, who often book last-minute trips in the UK during their holiday. He names Shangri-La, The Shard, in London and Gleneagles in Scotland as just two examples of the British properties they sell to their global clients, before adding: “We also have had some international customers that make bookings to places in Europe, like Croatia.”
Swords also invites the public into the store during Wimbledon to have drinks and watch the matches, as an easy way to engage with new and returning clients. “It’s all making it fun,” says Mark. “It’s our first year in the village, and we want people to know we’re here!”
