Take a look inside the 'Aladdin's cave' of hardware items in an unassuming area of Swansea that's no bigger than a living room. W-Davies Ironmongers in Eversley Road, Sketty has everything on its shelves to challenge the likes of B&Q. It has been open over 75 years and has been passed down through the generations of one city family.
Space is at a premium and around 50,000 pieces of stock is stored in every nook and cranny you could imagine - from the cellar to the staircase. The shop feels like you're stepping back in time when you walk inside and continues to wow customers who discover it. It has even been referred by some to Arkwright's - a nod to the character Albert Arkwright and his not dissimilar shop in the classic comedy Open All Hours.
Originally opened by Mr. William Davies more than 90 years ago, the current version of the charming traditional hardware store was established in 1968. It was taken over by William's son in 1956, and then passed to David Davies in the year of 1970. David has now retired and the business is owned by Wayne Bainbridge, Steve Hughes, and David's daughter Caroline. The proprietors may have changed, but the shop has retained all its original charm. The ironmongers expanded two years ago to open a separate paint shop across the road - and that's also jam packed with 45,000 different coloured paints.
Mr Hughes explained: "When people come in here for the first time they say 'Wow'. It's like an Aladdin's cave and people want to spend all day here. It's also been described as a man's creche! It's the size of a half decent front room here and we've utilised all the space we have, there's stock on the staircase, in the garage, in the cellar, everywhere.
"We often get people coming in saying 'I know you won't have it', then you pull out what they're looking for and they are amazed."
Mr Bainbridge is in charge of making sure the stock is topped up at all times, and admitted it was difficult to keep on top of. He said: "It's a struggle but it's about familiarising yourself with what's what. If you can see a gap appearing on the shelves you order stuff in. There's a lot of stock - we could have a lot of something, then you could sell ten of something in one day."
Tradition is important at the ironmongers, and they have resisted creating an online ordering system, although they do have a machine for card payments. A customer walks into the store and observes: "It's unusual to see an old fashioned ironmonger." Mr Hughes jokes: "I know, they won't let me leave here!" But such observations are a regular occurrence.
Mr Bainbridge said: "People love the fact that we are here. We get it quite often that people will say things like 'Don't go anywhere. We will be lost without you'. With the likes of us compared to the bigger stores, you get more of a personal service and we're here to offer advice. People come in with a problem and say: 'I think I need this', and I will say 'This is the problem, that might do the job, but this is the better way to do it'. People value that."
Mr Hughes added: "We have got customers in their sixties who say they came in here as a child and still love the smell of the shop."
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