Kent-based System Store Solutions (www.system-store.com) recently celebrated its 20th year in business — a period that has seen dramatic changes within the company and its sales reaching almost £6 million a year.

Founded by managing director David Price in November 1998, with just two other members of staff, the business soon became associated with high-quality workshop storage equipment, following its appointment as exclusive distributor for the Italian-made FAMI range in the UK and Ireland.

Within two years, its turnover had exceeded £1 million, and the company expanded to larger premises. By the end of 2006, seven more people had joined the company.

Mr Price said: “Like any start-up business, we faced our challenges, but we knew that by providing high-quality products and service, we could fill a niche in the market for workshop storage and warehousing systems.

The FAMI agreement certainly backed up our belief in what we could do and gave us a great stepping stone for things to come.”

Sales continued to grow, quickly rising above £2 million a year, and the company signed a distribution agreement with Italy-based Ferretto to manage sales and installation of its larger-scale warehouse racking products.

With Ferretto on board, System Store Solutions created a separate warehouse racking division in 2013.

Strong sales growth continued, which resulted in the business relocating in July 2016 to its current office and warehouse facility in Ashford.

“By this time we had grown to 20 employees, so the new facility had to comfortably accommodate them as well as the increased storage we needed.

The 5,000ft² facility gave us the space required, and shortly after settling in, our annual turnover reached £4 million.”

System Store Solutions’ customer base has constantly evolved and now includes engineering, motor-sport, classic-car restorers, museums and distribution centres.

The ability to service such a wide range of storage requirements has been at the heart of the company’s success.