Tool hire chain HSS Hire now has a presence in 15 Selco builders’ merchant branches.
HSS opened its first satellite operations inside four Selco branches – Slough, Milton Keynes, Tottenham and Ashton-under-Lyne – at the end of last year.
HSS desks are now inside Selco in West Thurrock, Charlton, Rochester, Camberley, Walthamstow, Crayford, Cricklewood, Purley South Croydon, Catford, Redhill and Guildford.
Selco head of development Craig Bowler said: “We’ve been thrilled with the way that our partnership with HSS Hire has been received by our customers. In all the branches we have already launched HSS Hire, the response has been fantastic and our customers are thriving on the fact they can purchase their materials and fulfil their hire requirements at the same time.
“Expanding the partnership was always in the pipeline and we are delighted to have taken the next steps in that process.”
Each HSS Hire satellite desk can found at Selco trade counters, with HSS Hire teams in place to offer specialist advice for the offering.
HSS Hire director Nick Hadley added: “We were confident that the Selco partnership would be successful for all parties and that’s exactly how it has turned out. There is a natural fit between the services offered by a builders merchant and a tool and equipment hire specialist.”
The HSS-Selco alliance mirrors that Speedy Hire and B&Q began in 2020, with Speedy hire points inside nearly 40 B&Q stores around the country. However, Speedy pulled out of that arrangement earlier this year, taking a £2m hit on the investment costs of the initiative. [See previous report here.]
HSS Hire isn’t the only external service that Selco has introduced over the last 12 months, though.
The Brick Store was created in four Selco branches earlier this year to mark the start of a partnership with Chiltern Brick & Tile.
A special ‘show wall’ displaying more than 200 types of bricks for sale was erected in Selco stores in Enfield, Milton Keynes, Hemel Hempstead and St Albans. This was then rolled out to Watford, Cricklewood and Tottenham and the more recently to Coventry, Leicester and Peterborough.
Customers in these branches can either match their brick with one displayed or use the QR code to provide their information and request a call.
