Having been overwhelmed by applications from potential employees, Stax Trade Centres has announced three key appointments at its new Glasgow branch, which opens this month.
The new branch - the second Stax store in Scotland - will be managed by Steven Brady, a manager with more than 20 years' experience in the industry. Mr Brady helped to ensure the successful launch of Stax's Edinburgh branch in 2011 and will bring his expertise to the new Glasgow store. A team of 81 staff is now confirmed, with plans to increase to more than 100 in the next 12 months.

Mr Brady said of his new role: "After a fantastic four years managing the Edinburgh branch, I'm excited to get involved with the launch and management of the new Glasgow store. We've seen a high demand for home improvement supplies from both tradesmen and retailers in Scotland, so introducing a second store in the north will allow us to reach a wider audience whilst providing a fantastic selection of both branded and Stax own brand products".

The role of director operations will be taken up by George Gardener. Mr Gardener spent over 10 years working for DF Wishart, which was acquired by Stax Trade Centres in 2011. Since the acquisition, he has been working as a managing director and was involved with overseeing the Edinburgh Stax store, alongside launching the new Glasgow store. Mr Gardener will now be looking after both Scottish stores as the director of operations.

Also joining the new team is John Kerr, who has spent the last 30 years working for Maccess - a distribution and cash and carry company for the automotive trade. Throughout his career, Mr Kerr has worked his way through the ranks, progressing from trainee manager to regional manager level covering Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle area.

When Maccess sold its Manchester depot to Stax Trade Centres in 1986, Mr Kerr was heavily involved with the stocktake and has been working within the distribution section of the business ever since. He is now looking forward to returning to cash and carry, which will allow him to be more involved with customers.

Stax joint managing director David Hibbert, said: "With the success of the Edinburgh branch over the past four years, we wanted to ensure that we had a strong, well experienced team in place to launch the Glasgow branch. With Steven, George and John on board, we have the ideal combination of knowledge and expertise, we're confident that Glasgow will be a huge success for our company."