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Regional independent agency group joins First Choice
The Bowens, Yorks and Applebys independent group of 39 agencies are to become First Choice franchise partners.
The branches, located in Leicestershire, Warwickshire, the West Midlands, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Lincolnshire, will be re-branded by December.
But they are already able to access services offered within the First Choice Retail Network such as IT; Training; Finance; Commercial and access to all head office support functions.
First Choice retail managing director Cheryl Powell said: “As soon as we announced that Just Go were going to be our first First Choice Partners, we sent out a mailing and were immediately contacted by Paul Connell (retail trading director) and Kevin Lower (chief executive) of The Bowens Travel Group who were one of the first companies to pursue this opportunity.
“I am delighted that a company as large as Bowens; Applebys and Yorks, who have shops in places that are strategically important to First Choice due to their proximity to key airports, has decided to become a partner – it is a perfect fit as the location of their 39 shops dovetails perfectly with ours.”
Lower said: “As we all know the current year has been a difficult one for independent travel agents.
“We want to grow and develop our business even more and had been looking at various options within travel. When we learned about the First Choice Franchise Partners scheme, we were keen to know more and by talking to Cheryl and her team, we have seen a great opportunity to continue to grow and expand various areas of the business such as foreign exchange. We are looking forward to having the support of a large company, while still retaining control of our business.”
Report by Phil Davies
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