Home-based social media agency Travel Buddy has opened its first retail shop, taking a £14,000 booking on its first day of high street trading.
The agency, founded in 2016 by couple April Willmott and Darren Morris, has opened in Hanham, Bristol. It is part of The Holiday Village, a member of Midcounties’ Co-operative Travel Consortium.
Willmott said: “We were unsure what to expect on the day itself, however the feedback we had had from customers during the refit had been incredibly positive and we were grateful to see customers coming straight in to see us at the 10am opening time.
“We did a fantastic last-minute £14,000 booking for Sandals and Beaches Resorts on the day, which we were totally blown away by.”
Beachcomber supported the agency’s first day by donating a five-night stay in Mauritius to the agency’s raffle, also supported by Sandals and Beaches Resorts, while Travelpack also attended to discuss US tours with clients.
The company said it had made the decision to open on the high street after growing the business during the pandemic.
Willmott said: “We have quadrupled our annual business, achieved Chairman’s Royal Club status with Sandals and Beaches Resorts, and have worked incredibly closely with Blue Bay Travel; we are very happy to be one of their top agents.”
Morris said the agency needed to open retail premises to expand further.
He said: “You can only go so far being social media-based without a bookable website. Being solely reliant on social media to gain new bookings comes with a risk.
“There are lots of changes that have happened with regards to advertising in the last 12 months, and if any of those changes turned out to be really detrimental to us, we could potentially lose our business overnight – a retail premises was the next logical step for us to take.
“While travel currently remains uncertain, one thing we are sure of is that travel will return, and we wanted to ensure we were totally ready to capitalise on this.”
