From pub chats to market stalls to a Stockport success story: Squound

We catch up with Squound’s owners and long-time friends, Tim Gilbert and Chris Collier…  

Mid-Century modern is all the rage right now and Squound is without a doubt paving the path for bold accent colours, beautiful furniture silhouettes, and geometric patterns. As one of the Underbank’s many thriving independent stores, people travel from all over Manchester to take a look at their hot-selling pieces.  

Both coming from creative backgrounds, owners Tim and Chris, have an incredible eye for stunning design. Having watched Stopford blossom into the thriving community it is today; they have shared their story with us:   

Tell me, how do you two know each other… how did Squound start off? 

Tim said: “We met in about September 2015. We actually met in a bar in Chorlton, where I live, Chris was visiting a friend, we got chatting and immediately started talking about side boards.” 

Tim said: “Squound started as we were just having a clear out because we had both been collecting and hoarding furniture pieces. We’d known since meeting that we had exactly the same passion for it, we went to the Big Furniture Show a few times , and we just said… we should do this, we should do something, and then that was the start-up. 

“We started officially in June 2017; the very first thing that we did was a vintage home show at Victoria Baths in Manchester.” 

Tell me some more about what you do and what kind of products you offer?  

Tim said: “We restore antique pieces. So, we find products that we both love… and there’s lots of things that come into that: good quality, good design, good craftmanship, and beautiful features. It’s kind of a mutual thing, we have an unwritten rule where one of us will say, what about this piece, and we both have to agree.  

“We both have quite defined roles within the business, there’s only two of us and there’s only ever been two of us, which is getting a little bit crazy at the moment because we’re both so busy that we don’t stop… which is obviously great.”  

“Chris is the restorer and I’m the curator. We both just fell into these roles without planning. I’m really into displays and the visual aspect… the more creative side. I do all the graphic design, all the presentation and the promotion. Chris is much more back of house, which is his preferred place to be. Chris drives restoring, so we deliver together, but it’s things that we both prefer to do.” 

Chris said: “We literally find every single piece that we sell ourselves and we’ve identified ourselves over time what is popular, so for example… smaller sideboards, tall boy chest drawers, coffee tables, armchairs… these sell all day every day. It’s a constant job of finding things and we struggle to find room for it all.”  

Tim continued: “The shop changes weekly… daily… I have people who come in every weekend and say wow it’s different. We always like to freshen the shop up on a Friday which is a busy day for us.”  

So, are these all your own products in here?  

“We’ve got a few local artists in here and a ceramic artist as well. There are other local businesses who we like, they don’t need to necessarily fit in with our style, but they add value to the shop as they are all super talented. And everyone that we work with ends up becoming a friend which is really nice.”  

What do you want people to think of when they hear ‘Squound’? 

Chris said: “Definitely quality and good service, friendliness and efficiency, but most of all for our beautiful furniture.”  

Tim said: “I think the visual aspect is really important, so we love it when people come into the shop and say how fantastic it looks, its colourful, its friendly, it has good music, it smells nice… it’s just an all-round sensory experience.”  

What’s it been like, building your business in Stockport?  

Chris said; “Being in Stockport has been a two-way thing for us, in that the development that’s happened in Stockport has been amazing. It’s really helped us. But I also think that having a few nice independent businesses has helped Stockport and so we’ve really benefitted.”  

Tim said: “We’re really well known now, like if you say, I’m going to the orange vintage shop, everyone knows that you’re on about us. Even people in other places, like Chorlton or Manchester, people know us quite far afield now.”  

Chris continued: “I think Stockport, if it isn’t already, should be kind of a template and an inspiration to all other towns on how it can support small businesses. There is an obvious benefit of the architecture here, and the old town but when we started, this street was not like this, we did not have any of this. Ten years ago, it was full of boarded up shops or shops that you didn’t really want to visit.”  

Tim said: “Now we’re here and there’s so much happening, it’s just fantastic for us. We get busy on weekdays too which we never used to.”