We were lucky enough to interview business woman Lucy Hargreaves, Managing Director of Spiral Cellars, the UK’s leading supplier of luxury wine storage. A charismatic and experienced business woman, Lucy Hargreaves has led the company for almost 20 years helping it grow into the market leader that it is today.

It was fascinating to hear from Lucy and get an insight into the life of cellars.

What brought you to Spiral Cellars?

I started collecting wine in my mid-twenties. At the time I was living in a cramped one bedroom flat and simply didn’t have the space to store my growing (but still tiny) wine collection.  Having had first hand experience of what it’s like living surrounded by wine boxes, I distinctly remember experiencing a ‘lightbulb moment’ the first time I saw a Spiral Cellar. In those days, the product was quite functional and, also being interested in design, I saw an opportunity to improve and upgrade it. Today a Spiral Cellar isn’t just a very practical means of storing multiple wine bottles, it’s also a highly desirable thing of beauty.  

Who is your target market? 

Our audience base is actually rather diverse. Of course we have the wine collector (both those who have been collecting for years and younger collectors starting out on their journey) whose primary concern is that their wine is stored safely and securely. These clients get great peace of mind, knowing that a Spiral Cellar, with its clever system of natural ventilated, can be relied upon to protect their liquid investments – even in the event of a power failure.

Even those who classify themselves as ‘home entertainers’ rather than wine buffs enjoy the convenience of having wine close at hand for entertaining purposes.

We also sell a lot of cellars to clients who buy them as a home interiors feature.  For this target group, creating a beautiful, luxurious home is paramount and a Spiral Cellar with its distinctive styling certainly adds a ‘wow feature’ to a room.

Whilst we naturally cater to the more affluent customer, in recent months we have launched a range of cellar Kits (from £20,609) which cater to a wider range of budgets and have seen our customer range broaden significantly.

How has COVID-19 affected your business? 

Whilst of course working from home has had a huge effect on our lives, we’ve worked hard to ensure our cellars can still be installed securely during COVID (which they can, in under nine days!) Additionally, we manufacture all of our cellars here in the UK, which has meant we, unlike other companies specialising in home improvements, have not struggled with the availability of our products, meaning installations can still go ahead which has been vital for the business. We’re very proud to have had two successful launches in what has been a tough year, and our Design Only Service and Assisted Kits are proving very popular which has been so satisfying to see.

What percentage of your business is online now compared to pre-covid? 

Our business is split between the sales and marketing teams who have managed to adapt to work at home and online, and the installation teams, for whom not much has changed! They are still out on the road installing cellars – albeit operating in team bubbles and in a Covid secure manner. I’m immensely proud of the Spiral Cellars team and the way they have adapted to everything that 2020 has thrown at them. 

I can only imagine some of the beautiful homes you’ve been into. What is a project you are most proud of?

Yes, whilst I can’t divulge specifics, I can safely say that we have installed cellars into some spectacular properties. In my line of business, properties with tennis courts, swimming pools and underground car parks are not uncommon. That said, what gives me greatest pleasure is when we put a cellar into perhaps a more modest residence.  It gives me a real buzz when a client tells me that they’ve wanted a cellar for years but had always thought it out of reach. For them, it’s a dream come true. In part, that’s why we launched the Kit range of cellars, to make a cellar a more affordable reality rather than just an ever-elusive dream

Now...you work with your husband, tell us more! How do you both balance work and life? 

Discipline, discipline, discipline! If we didn’t have that, it would be very easy to talk live and breathe work 24 hrs a day. We have strict rules about defining home and work-life boundaries and try not to cross them – often easier said than done. In any case, we have different roles within the company so that helps ensure we aren’t in each others’ pockets.  I look after the management side of the business whereas Mark, my husband, is responsible for design and product development.

How can we find out more! Do you do newsletters? Collaborations? What marketing do you do and how have you seen that change in the last 6 months/have you noticed a change? 

We are seeing an enormous boom in online activity. Visits to our website are double what they were last year and our social media platforms are going through the roof.  This started back in March when the first lockdown began and people found themselves working at home with extra time on their hands. Initially, we thought it would tail off, but it hasn’t – which is great. We are also doing a lot of targeted direct mailings which are also generating interest – our marketing plan really is a mix of old and new media.

What is the best piece of advice you have received in business? 

That you don’t have to be bossy to be the boss.  

Finally, what will you be getting out of the cellar tonight?

I’ve been slowly cooking beef cheeks for the last 24hrs and have my eye on a nice bottle of Cote-Rotie. The earthy tones of each should make it a match made in heaven.