It was the minnows against the sharks. Twenty-odd years ago, at dealer gatherings, at BAGMA meetings there was only one topic. How do we compete with the ‘sheds’? 

Work with them? Set up a national network of specialists? Put pressure on suppliers not to supply them? Refuse warranty work? All were tried to varying success.

There was an underlying mood of ‘if we stick together, we’ll see them off’. Not sure that was ever a realistic aim, but you know what?  It came to pass.

The sheds haven’t gone away, but their original business model has fallen apart. Focus has disappeared. Kingfisher recetnly announced the closure of 60 B&Q stores (1 in 6) , Home Retail Group (HRG) the closure of 80 Homebase stores (1 in 4). In all around 6000 jobs are at risk.

They blame declining interest in DIY and to some extent that’s true. But it’s the retail market that has changed. Whereas huge out-of-town stores, with long opening hours, vast car parks, ‘hook ‘em’ price points and vast stocks were seen as the future of retailing then – they are not now.  Online buying, next day deliveries, ‘click-and-collect’ are reaching new levels of sophistication.

Kingfisher have discovered that, with the success of their ‘Argos-like’ Screwfix operation. And it is clear we will see more Homebase/Argos combined stores from HRG.

Let’s be clear, the shift in consumer buying patterns affects all retailers, small independents as well as the chains. General hardware stores have disappeared in even greater numbers over recent years.

And yet. The specialist dealer population has remained relatively static over the past 20 years. They resisted trying to compete with the ‘sheds’, the internet has come to their rescue ensuring much greater visibility - and the fact they are ‘specialists’, not all-rounders, remains their forte.

It is too far-fetched to use a Sun-style headline when looking back on the past 20 years and say “It’s the dealers wot won it”, but there should be some acknowledgment, some satisfaction that the specialist dealer network has, to a degree, seen off the sheds.

Now, let’s try and get our heads around the next few years!