Cash Generator
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Cash Generator is a
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
-based Buy and Sell store. Its headquarters are in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The retailer opened its first store in Bolton in February 1994. The company has expanded, with corporate and franchise stores, and currently has 120+ stores across the United Kingdom (2018). The company describes itself as a ''Buy, Sell and Buy Back Store''. Its core business is the buying and selling of
second hand Used goods mean any item of personal property offered for sale not as new, including metals in any form except coins that are legal tender, but excluding books, magazines, and postage stamps. Risks Furniture, in particular bedding or upholstere ...
goods, mainly electrical, entertainment products and gold.


History

Cash Generator was founded in 1994, by British businessman Brian Lewis. Having noticed the success of a similar business in the United States, he decided to emulate the business model in the United Kingdom, and opened his first store in
Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...
,
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
on
Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...
1994. After opening 15 corporate stores in the North of England, Lewis launched the franchise network, opening the first franchise store in 1997. The headquarters were located in Bolton until 2012, when they moved to Edinburgh. Within the first year of opening, the company changed its name to Cash Generator. Brian Lewis decided upon the name after changing other elements in response to customer feedback: "When theory hits practicality, practicality always wins. For instance, the original name was 'Paragon', but we changed it because it didn't say what we did. We are a 'cash generator'." Cash Generator was 100% owned by Lewis from February 1994, until April 2008, when a management buyout was staged by three directors and in conjunction with New World Corporate Finance. The acquisition meant that the founder Lewis was bought out, remaining as a shareholding non executive director. The three directors included Julian Urry, Managing Director of Cash Generator, from 2004, previously CEO of Cash Converters, Robin Page, Franchise Director and Steve Wilkinson, Finance Director. In 2012 Axcess Financial Services Group Purchased Cash Generator to help expand its loan business – it already operated Cheque Centres Ltd. In 2017 Axcess sold Cash Generator to investors Rcapital. On 9 April 2008, three directors, Julian Urry, financial director Steve Wilkinson and franchising director Robin Page, with additional finance from New World Corporate Finance bought out founder Brian Lewis, forming a new company (Cash Generator Holdings Limited) in the process. Lewis remained as a shareholding non executive director. In February 2010, the company launched its new 'Express' store concept, opening stores on select trunk roads and arterial routes, with high visibility and easy access for local residents. In December 2010, the company was acquired by United States-based financial services group Axcess Financial, for an undisclosed sum. In 2011 they opened 21 new stores and the company moved in to franchising. This allowed a further 29 stores ran by franchisees to open that same year. By 2015, Cash Generator owned 223 stores. In December 2012, Cash Generator recruited a new managing director, Allan May, who had previously been head of operations at
Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...
. In 2017, Axcess sold Cash Generator to investors Rcapital. As of June 2018, Cash Generator is a purely franchisee focused business with a defined business model with over 120 stores and 58 franchisees, which includes stores ranging from
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
to Northern
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
.


Operations

As of , there are 120+ Cash Generator stores operating in the United Kingdom, all of which are franchise operations., all stores are now franchise stores In 2011, it was stated that the average store receives 5,000 visits a week. In 2009, the company launched CashGenerator.co.uk as a fully transactional website that allows customers to browse and shop online.


Retail operations

Some Cash Generator stores have three counters; retail, buying and financial; but it is mostly focused on Retail and Buying. The core businesses activity is the buying and selling of second-hand goods, mainly electrical and entertainment products such as televisions, DVDs, games consoles, mobile phones, games, laptops, tablets, gold and jewellery. In addition to second-hand items, the stores also sell new and refurbished domestic goods.


Buying counter

In each Cash Generator, the buying counter offers customers cash for their unwanted household goods and gold. The retailer also offers a "buy-back" service, where customers receive cash for an item, with the option to buy back the goods within 28 days, or renew for another 28 days. Previously, Cash Generator offered a traditional pawnbroking service, turning gold or jewellery into cash with an unlimited six-month loan against the value of goods. Cash Generator only buys from over 18s, and two forms of ID are required, including photo identification and proof of address to avoid fraud.


Financial services

Cash Generator offers a range of financial services, including cheque cashing, money transfer, foreign currency exchange in some stores. The company has a partnership with Western Union and Number One Currency. In 2015, the company ceased issuing short-term loans as the market for Payday Loans became more heavily regulated; with a greater focus on buying, selling and Buy Back. Services vary in each store so check out availability via the website.


Corporate affairs

Since its establishment in 1994, the company has shown year on year growth in all its income streams in every year it has been trading. In 2009, the total retail sales of the group amounted to £73.6 million; overall gross profits were £30.1 million.


Franchise model

Since 1997, the business has grown mainly through franchising. The total investment required to start a Cash Generator franchise was estimated between £200,000 and £250,000. Of this figure, between £70,000 to £80,000 was expected to be personal investment. The company invited applications from Master Franchise partners for overseas markets in Europe in the past. As of 2018, the investment required to start a Cash Generator franchise is between £120,000 and £200,000; with £35,000 and £60,000 expected to be from personal investment. The company are again in the market for new franchisees within the United Kingdom, with new franchises being established in targeted geographical areas throughout the UK.


Logos and slogans

Stores originally carried the strap line "The Buy & Sell Store". Then to reflect the increasing availability of financial services, the slogan was updated to "The Buy, Sell & Loan Store". But since the move away from financial services, the slogan was updated to "Now here's a great deal!" in reference to the in-store and online deals.


Charity connection

Previously, the company's adopted charity was
Make-A-Wish Foundation The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness between the ages of and 18 years old. Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980 and headqu ...
of the United Kingdom. The charity's logo appeared in the company's television advertising.


Trade bodies and accreditations

The company has the following memberships and accreditations: * British Franchise Association (BFA) * Institute of Customer Service (ICS)


References

{{Reflist, 30em


External links


Company website

Information for franchises
Financial services companies established in 1994 Retail companies established in 1994 Retail companies of the United Kingdom Consumer electronics retailers of the United Kingdom Video game retailers in the United Kingdom Financial services companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Bolton British companies established in 1994 1994 establishments in the United Kingdom