Darlaston Builders Merchants, a five-branch operation, has become the buying group’s newest recruit, taking the total membership to 105.
Darlaston is a family-run plumbing merchant set up 35 years ago with the original founder still serving as MD and two of his sons also on the board.
The company, which turns over more than £16 million and started out with one branch in Darlaston, now has depots in Darlaston, Wednesbury, West Bromwich, and Birmingham in addition to a well-established plumbing outlet in Darlaston. It has ambitious expansion plans with a new depot in Walsall due to open in September this year, and for another in central Birmingham in Q2 2021.
“With the growth we have seen in recent years we decided that the next phase should be to step up to a substantial buying group to allow us to compete really effectively with the nationals and put us on a more substantial footing with the major suppliers,” says Steve Lally, Operations Director at Darlaston.
“This will help us to grow our business further, particularly with two new branch openings we have planned. We are already impressed with the remarkable scope of deals that have opened up to us on joining h&b, giving us access to more new, innovative and profitable product ranges.”
