Back in 1969 an old friend opened up a second hand shop and naturally invited us to take a look-in to see how well things were going. 

 

Sadly we were disappointed with the soul-less atmosphere created by his silent rows of cookers, fridges, vacuum cleaners and washing machines - all things people NEED perhaps, but there were none of the second hand goodies that people actually WANT. Things like Hi-fi, cameras, watches, guitars or jewellery.  

So... it was “sorry Harry, a very dreary shop, offering good value but very boring!”. 

 

Just 3 months later we opened our own version of a new kind of store stocking only thoses goodies we all WANT, but often can’t afford to buy new. To make our intentions clear, we named the company Wants and people liked it.  

 

We found that we were the very first second hand store to offer solid money-back guarantees, in a world where old style junk shops displayed notices saying “All goods sold as seen. No refunds!”, and people liked our fresh approach. 

 

So that was the beginning, around 40 years ago and customers are still saying it’s a good idea. 

 

Today we have 5 stores in Plymouth and Exeter and now offer a choice from over 300 guitars, a hundred + value for money cameras, the biggest range of antique and second hand jewellery in the South West, plus acres of computers, sports goods and hi-fi to browse through, along with televisions, mobile phones and whatever’s hot today! 

In the mid 70’s a major development came out of a chance meeting on a train with a very switched-on guy.  

 

Our new friend was based in Hatton Garden jewellery quarter, importing gold chains, bracelets and earrings direct from leading Italian manufacturers and things were going very very well for him. A great success story based on a simple recipe of low mark-ups and high volume sales, and surely this was a great opportunity for Wants. Our figures scribbled on the back of the envelope added up to BRILLIANT! So brilliant in fact we simply had to take it on.  

 

So by undercutting traditional high street jewellers sky high mark-ups, we first brought discount jewellery at affordable prices to Plymouth. 

 

This development proved so popular that WANTS opened THE GOLD CENTRE as our dedicated jewellery platform.  

Our girls became known as ‘THE CHAIN GANG’ of course and customer flocked in. 

 

Our advertising said it all....”buy elsewhere and you’ll pay a good deal more for a good deal less”. Probably nothing quite as exciting has happened since to WANTS or the South West, but we still hang in there. Nowadays offering low cost cheque cashing, currency exchange at the best rates in town, global money transfer, cheque-backed loans ‘til payday and of course, easy buy back options on treasured possessions.