Press

Below are a selection of our latest press articles;

SOUTH WEST STATIONER THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS
Wessex Malthouse Direct, which has outlets in Taunton, Minehead and Newton Abbot, has won the national BOSS (British Office and Stationery Suppliers Association) Dealer Excellence Award. Read more ...

---

FINALISTS FOR BOSS TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Wessex Malthouse’s parent company, Choice Media, has been trading, and growing, for 9 years.  We now process around 20,000 orders a month for domestic computer consumables, and have an international customer base. 90% of our orders are taken via the internet, presenting mounting challenges to our office systems and the way we respond to our customers.  Moving all our design and print operations, administration and the call centre to Lea House in Frobisher Way presented a great opportunity to redesign our whole IT set up and install an entirely new, built-for-purpose system.

The results have been so successful that we have entered for this year’s Business and Office Supplies and Services Technology Award – and we have just been told we’ve reached the final shortlist of three.

We awarded the contract to System Axis Ltd in Bridgwater.  They have designed an all-in-one solution which links a new e-commerce website to our back office and warehouse systems, and which is automatically updated every night with prices and availability through links with our suppliers.  The new system has also improved the way we handle our weekly email offers to clients, using in-house email design and better data interpretation to allow us to tailor offer packages for specific customer and product groups.

We have been ‘test-driving’ the new systems for the past 6 months, and are delighted with the results – our customers have better and easier access to the products they want, and we have seen increases in some product areas in excess of 200% in just that short time.

The BOSS results are out at the end of October – watch this space!

---

WESSEX MALTHOUSE EXPANDS INTO OFFICE FURNITURE
Friday February 1st is another big day for Wessex Malthouse Direct – the opening of a brand new office furniture and seating showroom at the their shop at the bottom of East Reach in Taunton.  The new venture is aimed at anyone who runs their own office or who works from home.

From tomorrow, commercial and domestic customers will be able to select and buy from a wide range of good office furniture held in stock on site on a cash and carry basis.  All Wessex Malthouse’s existing retail, copying and printing operations will continue unchanged.

The new furniture operation will occupy the whole of the area at the rear of the premises, formerly home to the design and printing facilities which have moved to the new headquarters building in Taunton’s Frobisher Way.

Managing Director Paul Thresher says, “Whether you’re looking for one chair or six, computer tables or wastepaper baskets, we have a really good range of quality office furniture at competitive prices for you to chose from.  And you can take it away with you or we will deliver, it’s all part of the deal.  I’m very excited at this new development, which expands the scope of our service to businesses based either at home or in commercial premises.”

Visitors to the showroom on Friday February 1st will be able to take advantage of some special opening offers – take the Wessex Malthouse advertisement in today’s paper with you to qualify for discounts.

Stationery and print and design company Wessex Malthouse Direct is a subsidiary of Choice Media Group, a family owned business.

---

NEW LEASE FOR NEW HEADQUARTERS
Choice Media Group, parent company of Choice Stationery Supplies and Taunton-based Wessex Malthouse Direct, are pleased to announce that they have agreed a lease on Lea House in Frobisher Way, Taunton.  The unit will become the new headquarters for the group from the end of August.

The building has undergone a substantial refurbishment both inside and out in preparation for its new occupiers.

Externally, windows, doors, cladding, guttering and the roof have all been completely replaced with the latest energy-saving units and materials.

Internally, partitioning has been removed, air conditioning installed,  and new two-storey partitioned offices have been created to house the 20 members of staff involved in the move.  New fibre-optic telecoms systems have been installed to allow for the further development of the company’s high-speed, high-volume online Choice Stationery business, and new networks created to give all Choice Media sites access to central databases.  A new Trade Counter has been created in the front Reception area.

Paul Thresher, Managing Director of the Choice Media Group commented, “We were looking for premises to accommodate both out operating companies under one roof, and Lea House proved to be the perfect location.  We shall continue to trade from our retail premises in East Reach, Taunton, but all sales, accounts, design and print production, and customer services, will be relocated to the new head office building. These are exciting times for the Group, and we are creating new positions to cope with our continues expansion. We look forward to welcoming our clients to our new offices – and there is lots of car parking to make visiting even easier.”

---

NEW STORE REFIT COMPLETED
Following the successful acquisition of Print Plus in Market Street, Torquay, on the retirement of its founders Richard and Anne Hopkins, the new owners, Taunton-based Choice Media Group, have completed the store’s refit in line with its other premises.

The store, which is in a good retail location, now has a mix of competitively priced everyday stationery items as well as a full range of copying and printing facilities.

All Print Plus staff are staying with the business, which is the second Devon print and stationery business to be incorporated into the Choice Media Group. The Group companies offer a full range of services from design and print, websites, print and copying, retail and commercial stationery. It now employs 29 people in Minehead, Taunton, Newton Abbot and Torquay.

---

POLICE ACADEMY GIVES WESSEX MALTHOUSE THE THUMBS-UP
Independent police trainers the Police Academy have been training both police and non-police clients for several years, and have built up a successful business and a good reputation within Avon and Somerset Police and clients throughout the West Country.

It became clear over time that the image being projected by the business’s print was not in step with the very positive and dynamic views held of them by their clients, and neither did it reflect the environment in which they were working.  This needed to change – but the task proved far from easy.

Eventually, after months of abortive trials and ideas, Nic Crocker contacted Brian Wood, Design Director of Wessex Malthouse Direct in Taunton, outlined the problem and asked for some suggestions.

The idea Brian developed – a blue finger print – says it all, and Nic Crocker is delighted.  “When we were struggling to find an image that projected our identity, Brian Wood from WM Direct was creative, friendly and interested,” he says.  “We now have a striking, memorable logo fitting our needs both on paper and online”.

Brian adds, “Successful logo ideas come from a thorough understanding not only of where a business is now, but where it wants to get to, its general environment, what singles it out, and how the logo is going to be used. Nic and I had several conversations and we went through it all in some detail.  I was pleased with the result – and so are the Police Academy, which is what really matters.”

---

STUDENTS SWEEP THE FIELD
Staff from printers and stationers Choice Media have swept the board in their latest exam results from Somerset College, passing with the highest possible marks.

Five from the Taunton branch, five from the Watchet branch and one from Minehead took courses in Safety Compliance, Supervisory Development and Effective Customer Care and achieved Distinction in the BTEC for Customer Service. In addition, Tim Ayres took the Association of Accounting Technicians exam and Paul Smith the design course offered by Printing.com.

The SCAT courses were all delivered as part of the College’s distance learning packages.  Matt Axe, the Distance Learning Co-ordinator said, “It’s fantastic to see a local business take such an interest in the staff, and SCAT’s distance learning packages are the ideal way for an employer to increase the skill base of their workforce where training is delivered on site.”

Wessex Malthouse’s Managing Director, Paul Thresher, is very proud of his staff’s achievements. “We believe that the standard of customer relations and service can make or break a business, so it made a lot of sense to put our front-line staff in for accredited training.  They all worked very hard, and I’m absolutely delighted they have been so well rewarded for their efforts – for them and for us!”

Wessex Malthouse carries out a continuous programme of training for its 25 employees, and believes strongly that staff who are properly trained not only give better service to customers, but gain more job satisfaction from an improved ability to reach their full potential.

---

TRAINING CAMP BRINGS REWARDS
Taunton Deane Swimming Club have returned from a Training Camp in Malta, funded through sponsorship and fundraising – and it was very successful, as some of their members have just gone on to achieve national results.

Terry Beale, the club Chairman is extremely proud of their efforts. “A number of them have just achieved national qualifying times, and we got to the final of the national Speedo League in Sheffield,” he says.  “We’re very grateful to Wessex Malthouse and to all our sponsors who enabled the training camp to take place – the squad had a great time, but worked very hard, and it paid off.”

Taunton Deane Swimming club is regularly in the awards – they were Somerset Junior Champions in 2006 and are one of the top three clubs in the South West.