Reflecting on 10 Years at Keyishoes |

Reflecting on 10 Years at Keyishoes

Written by Simon

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18th October 2019

Where it all began…

Ten years ago, my wife and I decided to take a leap and start our own business. Since then, we’ve always looked ahead to the future, but today we begin to reflect on the past ten years at Keyishoes…

From the 1st November 2009, we began offering shoe repairs and key cutting, as well as supplying and programming electronic car keys. It was daunting at the start as we only managed to take £60 in our first week – we seriously wondered whether we would survive! But, thanks to your loyalty and lots of hard work, we now couldn’t be happier.

Since opening, Keyishoes has seen continuous growth every year, which has enabled our business to become the success that it is now. We are so glad to have persevered and couldn’t be more grateful for all your support to help get us here!

Shoe repairs

Key cutting

Electronic car keys

Through serving the general public and local businesses in Carlisle, we have saved hundreds of shoes and supplied thousands of keys over the last ten years. More importantly, we’ve met plenty of people and have subsequently built an incredible network both in-person and online – with over 2500 followers on Facebook!

Social Media now plays an important part of our marketing. From something that once heavily relied on word-of-mouth, our marketing efforts have evolved to take advantage of the digital age. In recent years, social media has proven to be one of the most effective forms of marketing for us, and the number of enquiries we receive online still surprises us to this day!

Are you following us yet?

We’ve had customers from the other end of the country drop in to get their car keys programmed on their way to Scotland for a holiday, or turn up on a trike with a trophy! Many of our customers now even send their car keys to us in the post so that we can repair them at their convenience.

We are also very pleased to have established many loyal clients in the Motor trade. From the used car trade to franchise dealers, plus many motor mechanics – we can’t help saving our clients money!

There have been lots of changes in the past ten years. Something that particularly stands out is the change in payment preferences at our store. When we began our business, the vast majority of transactions were cash. This has now completely reversed and debit and credit cards are the payment method of choice – with most now using contactless or Apple Pay!

There has also been an extension to our range of services during this time too, such as…

Car key repairs and refurbishments
Watch batteries, straps and link adjustments
Personalised engraving
Dry Cleaning, as Appointed Agents for Johnsons the Cleaners

…and this week we even repaired our first drone!

Personalised engraving

Watch batteries, straps & adjustments

Professional dry cleaning

We had noticed the rise of DIY projects and an alarming number of botched car key repair jobs from people trying to repair their own keys at home with cheap parts off eBay. However, the parts were usually either wrong or poor-quality and the important electronics inside often got lost or damaged – leaving them with a car that didn’t start at all!

So, we then decided to develop and introduce a safe and professional service to repair and refurbish car keys to a high standard, which has proved to be very successful.

Find out more about our electronic car & van key services right here!

Although a traditional trade, our shoe repair service has in fact seen a gradual increase over the years.

People are becoming more aware of the environmental impacts that new shoes can bring and are beginning to change their mindsets for the sake of saving the planet. Now, with a greater consciousness of the need to save money and reduce waste, they are more prepared to invest wisely and repair their shoes before replacing them.

Repair my shoes

On the other hand, it has been sad to see that dry cleaning has been on the decline.

With the current environmental status as it is, there should really be more people investing in better quality clothes to help minimise our environmental impact. When consumers begin to do that again – with the purpose of reducing waste and pollution – we will no doubt see another rise in dry cleaning requests.

Did you know? We are agents of Johnsons the Cleaners who use an environmentally friendly process for their dry cleaning, called GreenEarth…

Summary

A lot has changed over the last ten years, and we hope to continue seeing more progress and development in the years to come.

We wouldn’t be where we are now without all your support, so make sure you celebrate with us – don’t forget about our special anniversary treats and offers, available for a limited time only!