A COMPANY which started out in a kitchen with just £400 is celebrating its 45th anniversary and a turnover of £8million.

Jegs, an electrical, DIY, houseware and garden distributor was founded by Martin Gibbons in 1970 with just £400 and a beaten up old van.

Initially, the company sold spares for electrical equipment like toasters back in the day before things were thrown away when they no longer worked.

The company now markets 15,000 products from four sales lines – electrical, DIY, house and garden ware and employs 85 staff. Elouise Gibbons, Martin’s daughter, now in charge of the firm, said: “My father had to start the business because my mother was expecting me and in those days they didn’t have maternity pay.

“He would go to wholesaler and buy stock with a cheque on a Friday then on Saturday he would sell it to traders and get cash and pay it in the bank so the cheques would clear.

“Mum and dad ran the business from the kitchen table.

Mum used to do all the deliveries with me in a carrycot in the van from the time I was three weeks old. You wouldn’t get away with that now. Dad would do all the buying.”

The family were living in an end of terrace house in Wickford at the time.

Mr Gibbons began buying up a nearby row of garages to house his stock and before long had bought the whole row of ten.

The company then moved to Ely Road in Southend before moving to Progress Road where it has stayed for 30 years.

It continued to be very much a family business.

Miss Gibbons said: “Along the way many members of our family have been involved. My grandfather had responsibility for deliveries and despatches.

We had a fleet of vans covering south east England for 20 years then we decided it would be more cost effective to have couriers.

We went national and employed sales reps to go all over the UK and the Scottish Isles and Channel Islands.”

In December 2007 the company experienced disaster when a fire virtually destroyed it all.

However, it rose again and continues to go from strength to strength. Miss Gibbons said: “It proves what a wonderful team of people we have got that we were up and running within five weeks and 100 per cent operational within three months.

“They say 85 per cent of companies which have that sort of devastation go bust within two years, but after two years we were at record levels.

She added: "We’ve built up a good team of people. Now we look forward to the next 45 years of successful trading.”

Staff at the company enjoyed a celebration day on Monday.

Waitrose supported the special event by provided lunch for staff as a special congratulations gift.

Staff were also given gifts and the company ran a hat competition.

 

*JEGS is an exclusive distributor to Oakdene, H&S, Cozywarm, Litgas, Haden, the preferred distributor of Bell, and have their own Jegs brand of wiring accessories, lamps, lighting, accessories and tools.

The company has won industry recognition for its service, being named Supplier of the Year four times by the British Independent Retailer Association and once by the British Hardware Federation.

The company’s track record of results and success is due to its investment in its unrivalled range of quality products, service and competitive prices, which together allows the independents to successfully compete with the multiples.

Chairman and founder, Martin Gibbons, said: “When I first started back in April 1970, it was because I couldn’t find anyone who would employ me. With a baby on the way and a mortgage to pay, I knew I had to do something radical. Thanks to the enormous amount of help from family and lots of great staff, the company has stood the test of time and grown steadily to what it is today, I couldn’t be prouder that we are turning 45.”

SOUTHEND’S BIG SUCCESS STORIES

JEGS is not the only Southend company which started from humble beginnings:

* REGA RESEARCH of Coopers Way on the Temple Farm Industrial Estate began trading in 1973 and designs and manufactures domestic high fidelity sound systems. It now enjoys a turnover of £9m.

* HI-TEC was founded by Frank Van Wezel in 1974. Almost 30 years on, Hi-Tec has 400 employees and generates global sales of more than US$ 250 million.

*CLIFF STANFORD, an accountant from Southend, was a co-founder of Demon Internet, the first Internet Service Provider in the UK for individual subscribers. The company was sold to Scottish Telecom in 1998 for £66m.

*BOROUGH PLATING was established in 1947 and involved in metal finishing. In 1997, Borough moved to Progress Road, Leigh and invested £2million in the business.