Words: Zena le Roux Images: Supplied
Touchwood designs and creates refined watches, wedding rings and sunglasses made from the most exotic woods around in Pretoria East.Touchwood believes that perfection doesn’t come overnight and they, therefore, work endlessly to create the most beautiful wooden accessories. Owner Burger Coetzee tells us more:
How did your business start?
Touchwood started just after I received a wooden watch from my fiance. Most of my friends showed a lot of interest in the watch and the watches were hard to come by. After finding a valued manufacturer we started off with a few watch designs in August 2015 and have built and expanded to new wooden watches, wedding rings and sunglasses.
Why did you choose this area to set up shop?
Pretoria East is the area I grew up in and have stayed in my whole life, so it kind of made sense to set up shop here. However, as the business grew and word got out, I realised that even though at the time I didn’t make a “conscious” decision to set up shop in Pretoria East, it was the right one as the majority of our customers reside here. We truly value our clients (friends) and it is a bonus to be close by should they need our assistance with anything.
How did you find your premises?
We’ve travelled the country selling our products in different areas and even though we experience seasonal spikes in sales in these various locations, Pretoria, especially Pretoria East, is our one true constant.
Why are they ideally suited to your business?
Our main target market is the middle- to upper-class earners and this area humbly provides this group of people.
Who are your neighbours?
We have the best of both worlds as our main showroom is at my home where we have residential owners as neighbours. We also have various shops in various malls which makes us neighbours with some of the biggest brands out there.
What are the shop rental/sales prices like in this area?
Rental spaces differ from one another based on location and feet count. Our prices, however, are relatively the same throughout the different stores. You can find us at various Crafters Market stores countrywide and also at the centre court Woesmooi in Woodlands.
What is your shop footprint?
This is very difficult to answer as consumer behaviour differ from day to day and we have various channels currently being utilised. People do, however, show interest every single day.
Do you have any expansion plans?
Yes, we do – we’re constantly trying to innovate and expand our ranges. We recently added deer antler, cork and lab-made meteorite to various of our tungsten and wooden ring ranges.
Do you operate online as well?
Yes, we have an online shop and a Facebook (@Touchwoodbamboo) page.
What’s your most popular item/service?
I would say our tungsten and wooden/cork/deer antler inlay wedding bands together with our wooden watches, peak the interest of most customers.
Touchwood
084 299 4583
touchwood.biz
