A recent ‘Meet the Buyer’ day organised by The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) with Robert Dyas has led to eight confirmed new listings – plus three further ongoing discussions which are each viewed by Robert Dyas’ commercial director Phil Green as “very positive”.

The companies with confirmed listings in the housewares and hardware chain are Le Chateau, Sistema, Gorilla Glue, DNC, Oxo Good Grips, La Cafetiere, the London Oil Company and Eddingtons. Ongoing negotiations are still taking place with Whitefurze, Masterlock and Terraillon as well as other potential new suppliers.
A total of 40 BHETA members enjoyed a total of 76 appointments with the Robert Dyas buying team at the March 29 event.
Phil Green said: “Robert Dyas is always looking for new and different product lines and we go to all the shows for that reason, but at shows it’s sometimes difficult to see the wood for the trees!
“Here, thanks to some excellent organisation from BHETA, the whole team has the opportunity to see products from potential suppliers who have done their homework on our offer and pre-selected items to suit us.”
BHETA housewares sector director Will Jones commented: “This proves that the idea of finding mutually beneficial trading opportunities, which might not otherwise be recognised, really works. It takes considerable organisation, but the benefits speak for themselves. I’m delighted to confirm that we will be announcing BHETA’s next Meet the Buyer event very shortly.”
Robert Dyas has 100 stores spread across the South of England varying in size from 9,000sq ft to 1,250 sq ft. Headquarted in Leatherhead, the business was recently bought by retail tycoon Theo Paphitis for an undisclosed sum.