Retail

Bargain wedding dresses, TVs and antiques: John Pye sees soaring sales


As high street retailers struggle with store closures and bankruptcies, an online auctioneer is thriving.

John Pye Auctions operates a digital bootsale that helps clear stock from collapsed shop chains, closed down restaurants and failed manufacturers. On a Monday morning in August, a traffic jam at a secluded industrial estate in rural Staffordshire indicates that the firm is doing brisk business.

Hundreds of would-be buyers are flocking to a public viewing at John Pye’s Marchington warehouse to scour for bargain furniture, TVs, cars and even Christmas baubles at its latest sale.

The business also works with successful retailers, including John Lewis and Made.com, as well as several major pawnbrokers, to help clear unwanted stock and items returned by online shoppers that cannot be directly resold.

John Pye is having a good year. Sales are up by more than 35% in the first six months of 2018, year on year, and are expected to continue that trend in the next six months.

Bidders look at flat screen television sets at the John Pye Auction House, New Basford, Nottingham.



Bidders look at flat screen television sets at the John Pye Auction House, New Basford, Nottingham. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

The company recently cleared hundreds of pieces of furniture from the collapsed Fabb Sofas and from two casual dining chains which have been closing outlets.

“We’ve had the best start to the year since the last recession in 2008,” says Sheldon Miller, business development director for the family-owned business.

Last year Pye’s profits more than tripled to more than £1.1m partly thanks to a government contract to sell off cars seized by the DVLA.

By midday in Marchington there are nearly 2,000 people bouncing on sofas, peering into fridges, kicking car tyres and poking around in boxes of assorted retail flotsam, from broken beds to computer games. After noting down the lot numbers, they then bid for the items online.

“There’s nothing you can mention we haven’t sold – except livestock,” says 87-year-old founder John Pye.

Stock of Ferguson DAB radios at the John Pye Auction House, New Basford, Nottingham.



Stock of Ferguson DAB radios at the John Pye Auction House, New Basford, Nottingham. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Pye began trading in 1946, helping people move home with a cart and former pit pony called Spanker. The auction business began as a way to clear belongings his clients no longer wanted and took off when he moved to the Corn Exchange in Nottingham’s Cattle Market in 1969.

He now presides over an empire with 22 sites, 13 of which are dedicated to selling cars, and six general viewing sites including one on Bond Street, in London’s West End, dedicated to selling luxury jewellery and art. There also a 315,000 sq ft site in Port Talbot, Wales. About 15 articulated lorries of goods arrive each day at Marchington alone, contributing to 30,000 lots a week across the business.

Pye put down his gavel 12 years ago, when his son took over and moved all the auctions online. In his heyday, Pye would be calling bids from just a few hundred professional dealers. Today the business has 275,000 registered bidders, 70% of whom are shopping for themselves.

In Marchington, families with kids stop for a bacon sandwich in the coffee shop and vie for goods with landlords fitting out properties and small traders buying to sell on eBay or in a local shop.

“Every type of person you can think of buys here,” says Pye. “We have one dealer who has spent about £100,000 online with us and we’ve never seen him.”

Apart from the luxury items, nothing has a reserve price and items go for an average of 20% of their retail sale price. Everything is sold as seen and nothing can be returned so savvy bidders visit to check if their dream sofa has a missing leg. Pye doesn’t own the stock; it takes a cut from the sale price with the rest going back to the retailer.

John Pye of John Pye Auctions near Uttoxeter in one of the rooms containing items for auction.



John Pye of John Pye Auctions near Uttoxeter in one of the rooms containing items for auction. Photograph: Andrew Fox for the Guardian

Maxine Dolman, from Burton upon Trent, is a regular, having bought an John Lewis patio set from John Pye via a series of bids for a fraction of its retail price. “I got a table, a love seat, two footstools. I did buy a Vax that didn’t work and a three-legged sofa. You have to be careful as you can’t always see what works, but what a bargain if you get it right.”

Martin McMinn from Derby, who is visiting the showrooms for the first time, is disappointed that there are no Dysons. “There’s quite a lot of tat here and would I buy something with no guarantee? But my mate visits all the time and loves checking out the website.”

Even fans admit that any purchase is a gamble, but it hasn’t stopped John Pye selling boats, Formula 1 cars, perfume, fine wines, enormous machinery and even aeroplanes in the past. Earlier this year, the company auctioned off 486 wedding dresses after a chain went bust. It rigged up changing rooms and put on Prosecco for prospective buyers and cleared the lot for about 15% of its retail value.

As the retail closures mount up, Miller says he expects a busy end to the year.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg. Interests rates are going up and I suspect there is going to be double whammy with a squeeze on consumer spending. A lot of people are maxed out. It’s tough times on the high street.”

But he takes no pleasure from the problems retailers are currently facing: “We don’t want to see retailers going bust. We get more business as a supporter to retail clients. We want those ongoing partnerships.”



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