Posted:13-January-2021
Young Blood for CHIPS
The youngest franchisee in the CHIPS video games chain has opened the doors to his new store in Guisborough.
Paul Whitfield is 19 and his store in Market Place has already been inundated with customers.
The store which sells new and second-hand consoles, games, accessories and DVDs is the chain's 20th outlet to open nationwide and it was forced to unlock its doors early on Wednesday (Oct 8) due to customer demand.
Paul, an ex-Stokesley School pupil, was a CHIPS customer and his dad, Alan, was so impressed with the company on a shopping trip he asked his son if one day he would like to open his own.
For the last three years Paul has been studying Business Administration and Business Information Technology first at an IT training company and then at Teesside University, whilst working part-time for Safeway.
"I was only 16 when my dad first asked me about CHIPS," said Paul, who is an avid games player. "We decided to take a CHIPS franchise as it had tried-and-tested formulas and I would have the support of one of the country's most successful and biggest independent video games retailers behind me."
Paul decide to choose Guisborough for his store, which is in the heartland of CHIPS territory, and after just a few days trading he is certain it will be a great success.
“I have been really busy and everyone’s reactions have been great. I am very happy with everything and I know it was the right move to make,” said Paul, who lives in Nunthorpe.
He will be working full-time in the store, which opens Monday to Saturday from 9.30pm to 5.30pm and does plan to take on extra staff. Parents Alan and Pat are currently assisting Paul in the venture and enjoying throwing themselves into the fray.
“Although this is Paul’s store he will have the backing of CHIPS which has a great support network,” said Alan, who used to own Whitfield & Partners (Engineering Products) Ltd until two years ago.
Paul’s store stocks all major consoles and games including Playstation, X-box, GameCube, GameBoy and the new Nokia N-gage. There is also a wide range of second-hand retro games for earlier Sega and Nintendo consoles.
Joint Managing Director Nik Agar said: “Paul is enthusiastic, a great games player and has a very strong work ethic which will all stand him in good stead for the future. This is a very exciting venture for him and we are delighted he has chosen Guisborough to open a store. Judging by his customers’ reactions in these early days it will be a great success and a credit to the ever- expanding CHIPS brand.
CHIPS Guisborough is the company’s 20th outlet to open nationwide and the second in the last three weeks. There are now six company-owned stores in Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar, Darlington, Northallerton and Sunderland, and award-winning e-commerce site, www.chipsworld.co.uk. Paul’s is the latest of 13 franchise stores in Hartlepool, Bishop Auckland, Chester le-Street, Consett, Chorley, Skipton, Stafford, Lytham St Anne’s, Arnold, Letchworth, Norwich and Yeovil.
There are another six in the pipeline including stores for Edinburgh, Greater Manchester, Leicestershire, Sussex, Kent and the North and franchise inquiries are received every day.
“We have now started our busiest trading time of the year and it has been great to open Guisborough in time for the Christmas rush,” said Joint MD Don McCabe. “We are in negotiations for another six sites and hope to have a few more stores open in time for Christmas.”
Last weekend (October 5) CHIPS hosted its second ever annual conference at Hall Garth, Darlington. More than 80 franchisees, potential franchisee and company staff gathered to hear a host of presentations from Sony, Electronic Arts, Vivendi, Mad Catz, PerfectPlay and CP Waites Accountants.
“The day was a great success and everyone was able to learn more about the top titles for Christmas,” said Marketing & Franchise Manager Debra McCabe.
“We had a Christmas theme with balloons, crackers, party hats and even wrapped presents under the tree and a full Christmas dinner. CHIPS franchisees work so hard they have little chance to enjoy Christmas so we thought it would be nice to celebrate it early. Everyone had a great time and it was nice to get all our franchisees together.”
