Skip to content

Office supplies company still recovering after lockdown

Ellen Knight
BBC Radio Shropshire
BBC Chris is looking into the camera and smiling slightly; he's wearing a navy jumper with a red, blue, and white checked shirt underneath. He's stood in front of a whitewashed brick wall at his company that's got twelve different wood samples hung up. To his right there's a yellow sign with black writing that reads 'Chrisbeon - celebrating 50 years.'BBC
Craig Hughes is the second generation of his family to run Chrisbeon in Telford

An office supplies company said it is still recovering from the coronavirus lockdown - despite benefitting from people having to work from home at that time.

Chrisbeon, based in Telford, sells office goods from desks and chairs to stationery - but all that ground to a halt in March 2020 when millions of workers were told to work from home.

Craig Hughes is a partner at the company alongside his brother Richard, after their father founded Chrisbeon in 1974.

He described the coronavirus lockdown as "the biggest cultural change for workplaces since World War Two".

Mr Hughes said lockdown "effectively stopped his business overnight," but the company quickly realised "people would need a small desk and chair for working from their spare bedroom."

"We did have an opportunity, but what we didn't have was a supply chain."

Work 'turned on its head'

Mr Hughes noted that "everybody thinks [lockdown] was a massive boom for us," but the business still faced challenges.

"Where customers would normally order 90 chairs to one site - their offices - they were ordering 90 chairs to 90 individuals' homes," he said.

"The logistics and the way that we worked had to turn on its head overnight."

Over the past five years, as lockdown restrictions were lifted, Chrisbeon has celebrated its 50th anniversary - but Mr Hughes said the industry is still recovering.

"Some parts came back very, very quickly - other parts have only really in the past six to 12 months come back to some semblance of normality," he said.

The lead times for manufacturing is still slower than it was before the pandemic, Mr Hughes said.

"We're still not back to exactly pre-Covid, but the way businesses are responding and planning for the future is more like pre-Covid times."

A high table with four green and grey high chairs sat around it. Over the table is a green frame, with a bower made of flowers and leaves wrapped around it. On the far wall is a carpet of leaves and ivy.
Plants and greenery in offices are becoming more popular, Mr Hughes said

But the most significant difference post-lockdown is how companies want to set up their offices, Mr Hughes said.

"Most of our customers, after lockdown, came back to their premises, looked at their offices and probably thought they were a little dull and boring."

Mr Hughes said having plants and greenery in workplaces was also becoming more popular.

"People are asking 'how can we soften the office, and make it a bit more engaging?'

"It's a lot more open and friendly - and just a bit more interesting."

Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

More on this story