Cobus: Our 40-year history
At Cobus, we’ve come a long way, having provided inspiring spaces and exceptional service for UK businesses over the course of four decades.
The seeds of our business success came about when our founder, Jim Coldrick, noticed there was a niche market for selling second-hand furniture to new and emerging businesses around the Gloucester area.
Even back in 1977, businesses knew that they could count on us to help them create exciting workspaces, and through our hard-working ethos and values, the business – then known as Cotswold Furniture Supplies – expanded rapidly. The name soon changed to Cotswold Business Supplies, as Jim wanted to appeal to businesses and not homes.
Not long after being set-up, Jim realised the company had the extraordinary potential to serve the wider Gloucestershire area, the Cotswolds and beyond. He soon moved the company from a small shop in the city centre to a three-storey warehouse packed with stock.
Soon after, the business was to experience another boom, as the 1980s saw the arrival of self-assembled furniture.
Jim quickly realised that there was a huge need for this swish new self-assembled furniture in new and growing businesses across the UK, so focused his attention on helping those businesses fit themselves out with the furniture, which was suddenly much more affordable.
Continually growing, it wasn’t long before even the warehouse had exceeded its limits. This was the major turning point and by 1989, Jim commissioned the purpose-built premises that we still call home today.
In the 1990s, we started using catalogues to sell new furniture and experimented with a range of different marketing activities. These were exciting times as the sky was the limit and in 2008, we became Cotswold Business Interiors. It was then that we started a telemarketing campaign using a database that later became the basis of our business, offering complete interior fit-outs as well as furniture.
Then came the digital age, which we embraced and utilised to maximise the quality of our customer service. In fact, the website you’re on right now has been the product of many hundreds of hours of research, design and development, and it showcases the exciting new brand identity we launched in autumn 2017.
All of our new and loyal clients then came to know us as Cobus, as we took the next step in our long, proud and exciting journey.
But although our name and branding might have moved with the times, our strong ethos of promoting a positive workplace environment remains. Our customers always come first, and we’ll always go the extra mile to build productive and trusting long-term partnerships with them. We strive to be first to go back to clients with anything from design ideas to quotes, so we’re always first in our customers’ minds.
Today, we work with businesses, organisations and education providers of every shape and size all over the UK, to supply, design and fit inspiring spaces using the very same values and principles Jim set out with in 1977.
If you’re a business looking for something, new, exciting and designed to the utmost professionalism, get in touch to see how we can transform your workspace into a place where people can live, learn and work more successfully, as well as stay happier and healthier while they do it.
