Hampshire Mobility Services
Staff at Hampshire Mobility Services (left to right) Mark Davies, Charlie Edwards. Leon Phillips, Kevin Fry and Jo Fry

THIIS chats to Kevin Fry, Director of Hampshire Mobility Services to find out more about its business which combines offering stairlift installation/maintenance service for the healthcare sector alongside a busy high street mobility store – all while doing its bit to boost sports inclusivity in the the local community…

Hampshire Mobility Services in Romsey is a stairlift company providing installation and aftercare to the healthcare, local authority and private sectors markets. It is also a high street mobility retail business providing everything from walking sticks to scooters, grabrails to bathlifters, manual wheelchairs to bespoke passive wheelchairs.

Founded by Kevin Fry 10 years ago this August, this privately owned family-run business started out as a small shop, gradually growing over the years into the business it is today.

“We still with the same enthusiasm to provide honest, unbiased service and products to suit the need of our client base,” says Kevin. “Working with trusted providers and manufacturers we have established a company that can achieve what we say we can achieve with the strong team of staff who also believe in our own abilities.”

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Hampshire Mobility Services
The showroom on Church Street, Romsey

Putting the end user first

Kevin came to be involved in the mobility sector after leaving school to start work as a welder, making stairlift tracks for Wessex Medical as it was then know (it is now just called Wessex). He then moved into stairlift installation, installing the older VS and VL model vertical lifts.

He continues: “Moving through the years I continued into stairlift installation via another company, working up to engineering supervisor before moving on to a role as service and install manager at family run business. This was back in my hometown at a time when I needed to be close to my family and young children.”

Kevin was made general manager of the larger company that brought the family run business and merged it into a regional business. Kevin adds: “At this point I lost the reason we all work in this industry – the interaction with the end user and providing solutions to make every day as inclusive as mine/ours.” It is this experience that led Kevin to starting Hampshire Mobility Services.

The shop, which can be found on Abbey Walk on Church Street, has always attracted plenty of demand from customers in Romsey and the surrounding area who comes for the good service and the ability to try out a wide range of products.

Customers can invited to come and test drive a mobility scooter or rollator, sit in a Rise and Recline chair and try different types of wheelchairs. For Kevin, he wants to customers to feel assured that they have a product suitable for their needs, and not simply because it’s the “the only one they have in stock” in order to achieve a sale.

The target customers, says Kevin, are those who want their own equipment so that they are not reliant on the state or those who are unable to wait for assessments due to the current demands in the healthcare sector.

The bestselling product, he says is the Rehasense Space LX rollator. “It’s a modern looking, lightweight British made product. Since the beginning of the year we have had a constant flow of them and we will continue to support the rollator and their other products.”

This year, the business has expanded into the modular ramp market. Kevin started to noticed enquiries coming through either on the back of wheelchair assessments with customers, or through onsite stairlift or hoisting assessments with OT’s. The range of products offered by another British manufacturer Enable Access is the “go-to choice”, explains Kevin.

“The quick modular products suit many situations and they have enabled us to break into a market which complements our own range of products and services. We are already looking forward to where these products can take the company over the coming months.”

Hampshire Mobility Services
The business offers everything from walking sticks to scooters

Community-minded business

Earlier this year, as reported in THIIS, the retailer teamed up with housing association Abri to help fund ‘Millbrook Munchkins’, a foundation football group of Millbrook Football Club. As well as helping to cover the costs of equipment, pitch hire and specialised training the investment helps to provide free football sessions to young children. The courses are all-inclusive and accommodate kids with differing abilities.

Kevin explains: “The Abri contract was a tender based award which we were initially awarded back in 2016 and continued until its re-tender back in May 2021. A significant part of the award was the condition to provide or fund a Social Value fund aimed at giving something back to the community in line with Abri’s policies.

“We chose to provide Millbrook FC regular finding in order for them to provide 3–7-year-old a pathway into football in an area of Southampton which is socially deprived and in the past had issues with anti-social behaviour.

Hampshire Mobility Services sponsors football team
The retailer supports grassroots football

“Bringing the children into an environment where they can be safe, welcomed and taught important skills through sport is something both Abri and I feel will benefit this local area. I have seen myself the importance of football, sport and friendships as our own son has been with the team from a young age. He is now progressing into a football scholarship with some of these teammates and I believe some of this is due to his time with the club and volunteers and managers who have supported him over the years.”

Further funding from Hampshire Mobility Services to Millbrook FC will continue with the aim to make the club even more inclusive, from investing in female football to the possibility of starting a pan-disability team in the years to come.

Adapting within the sector

There are plenty of challenges in the industry. As Kevin acknowledges, product supply in some sectors has been difficult to maintain and he, like many, feel that there is yet no clear path for the short term ahead. He is confident about the future however.

“Yes, we have had to adapt and look at other avenues, but we will only continue to supply products to our customers which we know we can support. Handicare and Invacare are two regular manufacturers we have worked well with over the last 10 years. We have a solid working arrangement where we can fully support the demands of the market and the backing market leaders.”

Taking a wider view, Kevin feels that the demands on the healthcare sector will be felt for a while to come, which will have repercussions on retailers who do business with local authories. “Funding caps on budgets, staff shortages and so on is going to take time to rebuild after COVID. Mixed with supply shortages this will mean that the local authority market will be turbulent in the coming months. I can already see the increase on private sales for many products.”

What this means for the business? Kevin adds: “We will continue to tender for maintenance contacts and the installation of stairlifts, hoists and ramps etc for buildings and maintenance. “These sources of regular income for the business are important for us to continue to grow and achieve our targets.”

Hampshire Mobility Services remains focused on putting the needs of customers first. “We as a business will continue to support these customers’ needs with a quicker response to enable them to be as independent as possible and as long as possible.”

www.hampshiremobilityservices.co.uk

Hampshire Mobility Services
Customers are encouraged to test out the store’s Rise and Recline chairs
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