Client Case Study – Goodrowes of Chichester

Goodrowes of Chichester has been established since 1943 and serve the farming, estate and outdoor communities in West Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.

The core of the company’s business is dedicated to agricultural and dairy engineering.  However, over the last 70 years Goodrowes has developed and diversified into a number of separate but highly integrated departments, offering a wide range of products with unrivalled service and support.

The company employs nearly thirty members of staff at two locations in Chichester.  Many of the staff have worked at Goodrowes for more than twenty five years and have an extensive knowledge of the products and services on offer.

Goodrowes Country Clothing shop is located in The Hornet and offers a superb range of outdoor clothing including brands such as Barbour, Regatta, Seeland, Hunter, Aigle and Le Chameau.

Behind the shop is a large Country Stores and Hardware Department selling ironmongery, garden tools, fencing, plumbing, electrical, agricultural and horticultural supplies.

Also operating from the site in the town centre is a team of skilled agricultural engineers.  In this department Goodrowes offers a wealth of knowledge and experience in such fields as dairy engineering, refrigeration, fabrication, welding, water supplies, pumping systems, irrigation, grain storage and grain drying.

At Quarry Lane the company’s garden machinery department offers an extensive range of machinery catering for the domestic gardener through to commercial concerns.  On offer are ride on mowers, rotary mowers, strimmers, chainsaws, hedge cutters and many more products from well-known makes including Stihl, Viking and Hayter.

Since the company started just over seventy years ago there have been many changes. Farming has not only become more intensive and large scale, but many farms have seen barns and outbuildings converted into holiday lets and housing.  The dairy industry has faced a slow but steady decline.  The core of Goodrowes business which once serviced and repaired some three hundred dairies now looks after around forty.  The change in the industry has inevitably led to a significant change in both the customer and their buying habits, although a lot of this change has been largely fuelled by the online retail revolution. With such changes Goodrowes has had to develop and diversify in order to remain successful in an increasingly competitive market.

“Some 20 years ago we started working with Evans Weir and have since gone on to develop a strong relationship.  Evans Weir has supported us at a time when business has become increasingly difficult. Despite having our own accounts department, Evans Weir have provided us with excellent financial advice in areas we have found challenging such as PAYE, VAT, pensions, business tax and year end returns. As well as the excellent financial advice, Evans Weir has also aided us in business development decisions which has been of great value to Goodrowes.  A successful business must take the right financial decisions as well as managerial ones.  Being administered and advised properly has given Goodrowes peace of mind and allowed them to focus on improving their many aspects of their business.

We would definitely recommend Evans Weir to any new or established business we have been impressed with the Evans Weir team’s professionalism, quality of advice and efficiency. They are also very easy to do business with!”

Visit Goodrowes of Chichester here