Transomnia – designers, importers and wholesalers of home accessories and giftware – has announced that after more than four decades in the gift industry, selling to retailers throughout the UK and Europe, founder Shane O’Mahony and his brother Rod, who joined the business in 1985, have taken the difficult decision to close the company.
“We are very sad about this on a number of counts – for our staff who will all have to find new jobs; for our sales agents who will need to find new principals, and for our loyal customers who will need to find new suppliers,” Shane told customers in a statement that went out last night (15 December).
He continued: “We are also not delighted that, in the process of closing the company, we will lose a lot of the value built up in it over the years. But perhaps most of all, Rod and I feel sad that nobody else could see that the company and the brand that we’ve built up over 40 years was worth continuing.
“We have however, found a buyer for all our remaining stock, and from mid-January a number of Transomnia’s products will be available to buy from Gainsborough Giftware.”
Reflecting on how the company started out, Shane told Transomnia customers: “It’s been 43 years since I set off for northern India with a backpack, £800, and a plan to avoid getting a proper job by importing papier-maché from the fabled Himalayan valley of Kashmir. I made a lot of mistakes, and I knew absolutely nothing about business, but my outgoings were very low and, for a while at least, I was content to be as poor as a church mouse. That was lucky, because soon after my first buying trip in May 1979, the UK economy started its plunge into the early ’80s recession, sales virtually dried up, and I started to look with envy at church mice. The Inland Revenue, as HMRC used to be known, couldn’t believe I could live on as little as I did, but finally went away when I pointed out that, bugger-all it might have been, but it was marginally more than I would have received had I been on the dole.”
Shane continued: “The economy improved, I managed to learn a few things from all the mistakes I made, and the business started to grow. In 1985 my brother Rod joined me, and then a few months later, his friend from university, Chris. The communications I sent out to customers started to say we instead of I and before long there was talk of the Transomnia buying team!
“We had a lot of fun, and some lucky breaks, and almost without realising it we became a proper business. We had management meetings, we had signing-in and holiday-request forms, we had mission statements and environmental policies, and we had official tea breaks! Luckily Rod took care of most of the admin, while I carried on with the overseas travel. Happy Days!
“Wind on a few decades, and I found myself in my early 60’s; Rod wasn’t too far behind, and sadly none of our children were interested in taking over the reinsof the business. Much as I have loved what I do, there are a lot of other things I’d like to turn my hand to before it’s too late – and I could do with a bit less stress in my life too! Rod was of a similar view, so in 2019 we retained a broker to discreetly look for a buyer for the business. Nothing turned up that year – then we ran into Covid and were tempted to give up the ghost there and then. However, we decided to work through it, keep everyone employed, hope for better times around the corner, and resume the search for a buyer when the economy started to recover from the impact of Covid. We really thought we had a deal in June of this year, and were delighted that the business would continue, all staff and sales agents would keep their jobs, and all our customers would still be able to buy Transomnia products. However, the buyer couldn’t get all of the financing that he required in place, and the deal collapsed.
“Since then the economy has got steadily worse, and in the last few weeks our brokers have advised they see little chance of us finding a buyer for the business in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, you, our customers, are feeling the pinch as your customers spend less, and from having had our best-ever January-March quarter, we have gone to having our worst September-November quarter in 20 years. Enough is enough, and we have taken the decision to close down Transomnia.
“I’m not entirely sure what the future holds for us, but for me it will still involve a lot of travel to the places I have grown to love, as well as lots of new places – and for Rod, it may well involve becoming the voice of Costa Del Sol radio!”.
Top: After 43 years, Transomnia is no longer trading.
