Civic visit launches new Bradford showroom

The Lord Mayor of Bradford visited our Albion Mills Business Centre at the weekend to officially open an exciting new store.

Shimu is a Chinese furniture and antiques specialist and its new 3,000 sq ft showroom is expected to attract buyers from across the country.

A cultural contest

To mark the opening of Shimu’s new showroom, the Lord Mayor of Bradford visited the business centre to judge entries of a competition for local school children to draw or make an animal which is important in Chinese culture.

Shimu – which means ‘solid wood’ in Chinese – works with craftsmen in Shanghai to create traditional furniture in original styles, as well as sourcing antiques from across China.  James had the idea to launch the business after buying some furniture when he worked in Hong Kong. When he returned to the UK, he realised there was a gap in the market.

Expanding with Bizspace

The business has been running for 10 years and the firm has relocated from a small shop in nearby Saltaire as it needed larger premises to display a greater amount of its product range.

“We’re sad to be leaving Saltaire but look forward to becoming part of the community in Greengates,” owner James Cottrell says.

“We are one of the biggest businesses of our type in the UK and we had reached a point where we needed more space to allow customers to view our products.  It is important for our customers to be able to see our items first-hand before they buy, particularly with the antiques.

“Our new premises at Albion Mills is over two floors and has allowed us to create a bigger showroom as well as giving us more storage space.  It was exactly what we were looking for in terms of size and how it is split over two levels.

“The Bizspace team have worked with us to help us make some alterations that we needed, such as installing a lift for disabled access and moving heavy goods between the floors.”

Choose your Bradford workspace

Albion Mills offers a wide range of workspaces for Bradford businesses, including:

• office units
• industrial units
• meeting rooms
• workshops and
• storage space

For more information on Albion Mills, email Shelby Maples or call on 01274 623 400. Discover our other offices to rent in Bradford today.