Lee Capewell, managing director of AvantiA Black Country manufacturer of kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms is cooking up a perfect 45th birthday present with a boost in sales and the purchase of new machinery.
Avanti, which was formed in a production facility in Lye and a showroom in Great Charles Street in Birmingham, has bucked the retail doom and gloom to post a 10% increase in revenues over the last 12 months.
The business puts this down to its ability to create beautiful, unique designs that inspire and significant investment in its network of five showrooms across the Black Country, Streetly and Solihull, including its showpiece site on Level Street in Brierley Hill.
Lee Capewell, managing director of Avanti, explained: “We have just completed our 75,000th installation since we started, which is a great way to celebrate 45 years in business. There has been lots of challenges in our sector during that time, with many recessions and, more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic that changed the way people bought kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms.
“We have overcome all of these, and I believe a lot of this is down to the strength of our brand locally and the fact we manufacture most of our products at our factory in Lye. This means we produce collections that you cannot get anywhere else and we are in full control of quality and delivery times, ensuring we can sometime turn installations around twice as quick as our rivals. 45 years is some achievement, but this is just the start. We continually look to improve, and we have just signed off on a £250,000 investment plant to upgrade our Solihull showroom and install a new beam saw to boost production speed in 2026.”
Passion and dedicationAvanti is a retail brand synonymous with the Black Country and its traditional values of trust, and personal service. This is reflected in the passion and dedication of its 60-strong workforce, with nine members of staff celebrating more than 25 years’ service and factory manager Ian Simpson being here for over four decades.
Mr Capewell added: “We try to do things differently to the rest of our sector and I think this is reflected in how loyal our team members are. The innovative approach also spans across the rest of the business and was typified by the major refurbishment of our flagship Level Street showroom in 2025. Rather than cramming in as many displays as possible, we opted for spacious kitchen, bedroom and bathroom displays and four dedicated presentation areas. Reaction from consumers has been fantastic and I think it is a blueprint we will follow for future refurbishments.”
Avanti wants to use its 45th birthday to reinforce its commitment to sustainability, a commitment that stretches back over a decade when it first invested £250,000 on a ‘state of the art” waste management system. This has helped the business achieve near zero impact on landfill sites and new measures are continually being introduced to support its desire to move towards 100% recycling of waste products, including cardboard, plastic and vinyl.
Mr Capewell concluded: “Not only do we want to deliver the highest quality products and the best possible customer service, but we also want consumers to know when they buy ‘Avanti’, they are purchasing some of the most sustainable kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms in the UK.”