The team behind Total Store has been established for 15 years, and are based in heart of England much like ourselves in the West Midlands. They are a manufacturer of garden buildings, specialising in sheds and summerhouses, striving on being able to deliver such structures to customers within an impressively short lead time.

Robert Hall, chairman at GardenSite LLP recently visited Total Store at their HQ and manufacturing facility and met with Mannie, Jay, and Jaggie. It was instantly clear that these three men are on a mission in taking on the garden buildings market and setting a new standard, especially for the likes of super quick delivery to customers. However, it hasn't all been rosy, as Covid and the subsequent pandemic affected many people’s business lives, and these three shed makers from Willenhall were in that vanguard. 

We can’t let the customer down

Due to the effects that Covid brought down on many businesses, with staff needing to isolate along with government regulations that meant staff had to stay at a distance from each other - which is easier said than done in the world of manufacturing, when sometimes multiple bodies may be needed in close proximity during the crafting process, the Total Store team was running on a skeleton crew.
This was understandable during the circumstances of course, but if the sheds weren’t being built, then customers' orders would not be able to be filled, leading to them potentially being let down.

However, even with young families waiting at home, the team did not stop. With their mindset of "We can't let the customer down", they strived to do just that. Sometimes staying over until 2.00AM in the morning to get the next day’s sheds made and ready for dispatch.

Soon after, they had the opportunity to move too much bigger premises in West Bromwich and took the decision to expand, hire more staff, streamline their crafting process and increase their sheds capacity so that they then could sell not only locally, but also across the UK.

Fast and free delivery

They soon devised an ingenious system to manufacture and pack their sheds that would fulfill their brief, being able to be delivered on a pallet, making such a bulky product now able to be delivered via pallet delivery networks rather than by a much slower, custom bulky-product delivery service.

After setting up their new crafting jigs and employing new staff, just over a year later production is in full swing and their garden buildings are leaving their new facility every day destined for customers all over the UK.

Being as all of their buildings were designed to be modular, everything is in stock for all buildings, all of the time. The experienced packers simply have to go through the parts checklist, which is triple-checked, and then they have the task of packing the building for next-day collection by the carrier. The same detailed checklist is forwarded with the order to the customer along with extensive installation instructions. 

Simple to install, very competitively priced, and with the majority of customers' orders now being delivered in less than a week, some as short as 3 working days, it was a bold gamble that is most definitely paying off.

Robert Hall was introduced to Total Stores around 5 years ago and has since been selling their original sheds within the GardenSite show site in Sutton Coldfield. So it was a natural extension for Mannie to invite GardenSite to be one of his first online distributors of a fantastic, extensive new Total Store range, and we are proud to offer them to our customer base with the main USP of ‘fast and free’ delivery included with every product.

A row of customer's shed orders awaiting to be dispatched.
A row of customer's shed orders awaiting to be dispatched.

More than just sheds

Don't let the brand name 'Total Store' limit your expectations, as 'garden buildings' is a much clearer way to describe what the brand has to offer.

Making an extensive collection of apex and pent sheds as well as summerhouses, which Total Store calls 'summer sheds' being as they are multipurpose, being suitable for both a summerhouse in the summer and a shed in the winter, and lastly dog kennels for man's most faithful pet.

High product specification

All timber used for Total Store buildings is tanalised, a method of pressure treating to ensure a long life as it helps to protect the wood from weathering and rot. If the building has windows then 4mm real glass is used to glaze it, unlike cheaper acrylic that is used in other brands. In fact, all of the specifications are impressive right down to the heavyweight green mineral felt and the ironmongery used.

Going around the factory, Robert noticed that even the smallest parts were stacked high onto pallets so there was no shortage of stock, even in the event of another pandemic and lockdown. 

Robert recalls a quote from Mannie, which was a perfect way to end the visit:

"Satisfying and exceeding the customer’s expectations were paramount to the whole operation."

It's safe to say that Total Store certainly live up to their own motto, with GardenSite being a proud retailer of these locally manufactured buildings.