FORBES 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, Alice Rowen Hall is no stranger to building and scaling successful businesses, having in eight years gone from selling clothes out of her living room to generating sales in excess of £25 million for former business Pink Boutique.

Alice, her husband Andrew and their team are now witnessing similar success with Rowen Homes, which in its first 18 months, has achieved top line sales of around £6.5 million - and is heading for £14million.

A luxury online home store, the business curates and sells 'glam' interiors. Part of the Rowen Group, the business was founded during the pandemic in Aug 2020, alongside husband Andrew and is a real labour of love, driven by the duo’s creative side and passion for interiors.

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The group which initially comprised three ventures including AllergyBox, Low Kal and Rowen Homes, has now streamlined to focus solely on the latter.

This is due to the significant growth witnessed by the interiors business over the last year and a half.

Starting the company with just seven staff, the team has now grown to 28. And in the next year they are looking to deliver gross sales of £14million and recruit another ten members of staff in the North East.

Such rapid growth also supported a move from their 3,000sq ft premises in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne to a 30,000 sqft warehouse and office space in Blaydon, Tyne & Wear back in May 2021.

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Alice Rowen Hall said: “It really has been an incredible 18 months for the Rowen Homes’ team. We’ve always had a love for interiors and with our background in ecommerce, we thought why not combine the two?

"We pride ourselves on not just offering luxury homeware, but also being a great place to work too.

"In fact, so much of our success to date really is down to the incredible team we have around us and the shared commitment they have.

"Whether that is through the curation of our collections, creating viral content or providing exceptional customer service and delivery times – that’s what really sets us apart.

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"And with the demand for the luxury glam aesthetic continuing to grow across the globe, we look forward to diversifying and expanding our offering further over the coming years, creating more jobs in the North East.”

Part of the business’s growth can be credited to Rowen Homes’ success in creating engaging, viral social content, that has seen them achieve an impressive 60 million views on TikTok.

Even Alice has become a bit of a TikTok star when a voice clip of hers for a Rowen room reveal went viral and was reused by a number of big name brands.

“It was a completely surreal experience, but one that made us smile and hopefully means we are doing something right,” she said.

Andrew Hall, Managing Director and Co-Founder, added: “It’s been a fantastic 18 months, but our ambitions don’t stop there.

"In the next three years we are keen to achieve £30 million in sales and to be operating from multiple sites as well as launching our very own delivery service.

"We know to achieve that it’s about continuing to invest in our brand and attract the right talent, which is why we are proud to have just launched our EMI employee share scheme.

"We believe everyone that works for Rowen Homes deserves to have a part in the businesses success and growth and we are very proud to be able to offer this.”

 

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