Ferro Maria takes care of the clothes of the people from Santa Maria da Feira

Luís Castro and Gisela Ribeiro have spent 15 years in England, have formed a family, a company and a whole life in the United Kingdom. But they decided to return to Portugal and to invest in Santa Maria da Feira. In a few months, they prepared the English company Sparkle and Shine in order to manage it from Portugal; they found a school for their children, as well as a new business. Now they are at the head of Ferro Maria, an ironing and laundry store that promises to take care of all the clothes of the people from Santa Maria da Feira, with total confidence, safety and comfort ... all at a friendly price and with delivery at home. A space described as "drop dead gorgeous”, with Ivo Maia's signature.

Luís Castro: 15 years ago, we had just married, and things were not easy in Portugal with the crisis. It was an option, we decided to go to England. We had several jobs at hotels and then Gisela decided to start a cleaning company, I had another job that I left in order to dedicate myself to the company Sparkle and Shine, which has been labouring for 12 years.

Gisela Ribeiro: We were in the North of England and then we moved to another area. What happened is that we started from scratch, we developed a brand and, at some point, there was interest in transferring the business. One of our clients was interested in the area we were working in, then we went to develop a new zone, so we were now working in two zones.

Luís Castro: Last year, by summer, we had 50 employees in the cleaning area, which included mobile work, managed only by the two of us, and it was not easy. The Brexit has influenced us and it began to be difficult to hire people. When we were about to buy a house and the business was practically closed, then I began to think that maybe I would rather go back to Portugal and invest here in Santa Maria da Feira. We started to deal with the change right away, we had to reduce the number of employees to 35, in order to keep the company more independent, and this is a process that is still going on.

Gisela Ribeiro: Yes, we have a family, the kids had to start the school year forcibly here. So, from May on, we have prepared everything to come back and in September our children have already joined the school here.

Luís Castro: It will not be so much, the change of mentalities is already happening. We have had many barriers over the years and we made it ...

Gisela Ribeiro: Yes, because in England it was not easy either. Starting a business, being a foreigner, we are never looked at the same way, either for employees or for customers.

Portugal is Portugal. Actually, our initial plan was to go to England five years, to organize our life and to return.

Gisela Ribeiro: In fact, we never felt England as our home, and we always had the objective of returning. Of course, the years went by, the company was also evolving and the family growing. It was time to decide where we were going to settle.

Gisela Ribeiro: Our vision of Portugal at the moment is much better, people are much more optimistic. In spite of all, we came here to risk, because either we invested in another business there or we came back. With work and dedication, I think it will work.

Luís Castro: Anyone who has a company anywhere knows what are the difficulties. At the moment Santa Maria da Feira is very attractive, it is a city that is on the map and it’s very interesting in terms of business. Best of all, we have our remaining family close by.

Gisela Ribeiro: The image is very beautiful and we like the concept.

Luís Castro: Location was one of the things that attracted us, we have clients from all over the county and outside the Municipality. We also have clients who live here and work in Porto and Gaia, and as they do not have time, they need this kind of service.

Gisela Ribeiro: Ironing, laundry and we added dry laundry and other specific services related to cleaning and treatment of textiles.

Luís Castro: We try to have all the services related to textile cleaning, from cleaning sofas and mattresses to carpets and curtains; it is a service at home that also offers future protection, a kind of waterproofing. All these services added to the ironing and laundry packages, which, at this moment, are what we sell the most.

Gisela Ribeiro: Yes, in order to diversify the services and because this type of service does not exist here in Santa Maria da Feira, we work in partnership with a company with many years of market that sends a technical team to people's houses and we feel confident on them. And it has drawn lots of people's attention.

Gisela Ribeiro: Any type of customer, but maybe people with little time, with image/appearance concerns, who know how to take care of themselves and give value to this type of service. But there are also families with children, with little time. Even because sometimes people have a housemaid, but who does not know how to take care of clothes or not even time to treat them.

Gisela Ribeiro: The image welcoming and flashy, the quality and sympathy ...

Luís Castro: Based on the experience we have, although we are within the market price, and even with a very competitive price, I think the customer values other things. We did not change the price policy, but what we want to value is that what we arrange with a customer, we will comply. Trust and knowing that we will not fail is much more important.

Luís Castro: We bought Ferro Maria with a very well defined project for expansion of services; depending on the market response/reaction, we would like to expand the number of stores. We have other projects on mind but we want to walk step by step; so far, the priority is to develop Ferro Maria.