Holidays by Design Cleethorpes is the brainchild of the TTG Top 50 Travel Agency Andrew Earle’s Holidays owner along with Rebecca Wright and Julia Fairfield – former First Choice agents – and all have been named directors.
The store, which opened in June after just a few months’ planning, is already attracting an average of £10,000 in sales per day, Earle – who owns three agencies in Yorkshire – told TTG.
He said: “I was looking into expanding my business across to Beverley, not too far away from another branch of Andrew Earle’s Holidays, and during that process I contacted Julia, who I have known for over 34 years.
“The space in Beverley eventually became unavailable, but Julia mentioned she had a friend who had some money to invest and suggested we look at Cleethorpes.
“Business has been tremendous since the doors opened – we have just passed £750,000 in sales since opening on June 5.”
Such has been the pace of the business growth, the team has already increased its staff, resulting in two full-time and three part-time employees and an apprentice.
Wright said: “We are so lucky to all have different skill sets – Andrew is well respected and successful in the industry and we knew he was the right person to go into business with.
“Myself and Julia know Cleethorpes and the clientele and knew we would be able to form our dream team. “We have been blown over by the support and it is so humbling that many of the customers we have helped over the years are now coming into our own shop."
Earle added that with plenty of small market towns in the UK and a “lack of independent agents”, the trio would continue looking out for opportunities to open more stores.
He said: “The initial plan was to get this new store to achieve its sales target, which we are currently running about 22% over.”
