WELCOME HOME
Sweet Squared has moved to a purpose-built office and warehouse. Georgia Seago went to Leeds to check it out and catch up with co-founder Samantha Sweet
Why did you decide to build your own office and warehouse?
We’d been looking to move for about four years because we were growing so fast. We looked all over but ultimately didn’t want to be too far from our (then) existing premises in West Park, Leeds. Most sites we looked at needed too much work to create our vision of the perfect Sweet Squared (S2) office space.
When the land came up for sale in Scarcroft, there was a lot of soul searching because our team mean everything to us and we knew this would have an impact on some of them as the new build is seven miles away from the old office. Fortunately, we kept almost everyone.
Why did you want to bring all departments and staff together?
Previously, the offices were easy for the customer to find, and the SquareHouse [S2’s warehouse] was seven miles away in an area that was much cheaper. It made sense at the time to keep it that way even though it wasn’t what we wanted.
To have the SquareHouse with us on the same site now is the best. Although we were a cosy team at the old place we really feel like family now we’re all together.
How will the move make it easier for salons and techs to work with you?
Customers can now order up until 6pm and get their goodies the next day. There’s also the improved Sweet Shop onsite – a store for our customers to enjoy discovering products. We give free advice and troubleshoot in store if someone needs help.
Which part of the new HQ are you most proud of?
I love the bistro area because it’s bright, colourful and fun, and that’s what we wanted our customers, students and team to experience. The Sweet Shop is beautifully kitted out, and I also love the open-plan office upstairs; the buzz is brilliant.
But maybe I’m most proud of the SquareHouse. Manager Stuart runs a great operation and the team take a real sense of pride in what they do. We have a window that looks from our upstairs offices into the SquareHouse so we can wave at them. I like knowing they’re part of everything.
THE SQUAREHOUSE IN NUMBERS…
864,000 items stored
103,026 orders picked in the year to date to November 2017
1,896: the most orders picked in one day
90% of packaging reused
Three Sweet Squared shops and two sub-distributors supplied
11 miles: the distance warehouse pickers walk on a busy day