Wakefield-based Card Factory celebrates 25 years

Christmas is in full swing at Card Factory’s Wakefield headquarters, but it’s not 2022 they’re celebrating, it’s 2023.

Candy canes and sustainability are the central themes on the retailer’s mood boards as it anticipates its customers looking for fun and eco-friendly cards next year.

And it’s not just Christmas that Card Factory is celebrating.

The company, which has 1,020 stores across the UK and Ireland and two million customers a week, also marked 25 years in business this month.

Founded in Wakefield by Dean Hoyle and his wife Janet, Card Factory's first store opened in 1997, after initially selling from the back of a van at car boot sales.

By 2020, it had over 1,000 stores.

It now employs more than 9,170 people, is currently going through a major transformation programme under Canadian chief executive Darcy Willson-Rymer, who joined the company in March 2021.

While Card Factory was set up to sell greetings cards, the focus now is the growing gift market and is also testing 10 new format stores as it looks to improve the shopping experience.

The move marks the first time the greeting cards retailer has undertaken a major store format upgrade in its history. It intends to make it easier to find cards and gifts at the same time.

Card Factory is also building up its partnerships with other retailers, including supermarkets, to capture the impulse purchase market.

Mr Willson-Rymer says the ‘privilege of service’ is what drives him the most in a career that has seen him head up Costcutter, Clinton Cards and Starbucks. “When a customer walks through the door, we’re in control of how the customer feels when they leave.”

While Card Factory continues to sell 29p cards – its lowest price point from 25 years ago – its top price point of £2.49 has increased to £2.99 for wedding cards.

“We haven’t just pushed the price up, we’ve added value to these cards,” Mr Willson-Rymer said. “We’ve put more raised embossed foil on the front and more words inside.”

The company’s 70-strong studio team designs 75 per cent of the cards and gifts it sells. About 80 per cent of its cards are manufactured at its factory in Baildon, Bradford. The factory has the capacity to produce 270m cards a year, with the opportunity to grow capacity to 400m cards a year.

Meanwhile, the business is having to be more efficient in terms of its purchasing and it hedged its operations against rising energy prices and currency fluctuations.

“Between all of that activity we’re really confident that we can maintain the value proposition. We’ve got a substantial transformation agenda and the main challenge is the prioritisation, making the right investments and getting things right the first time, but those things are within our control.

“The thing I fear above anything else is complacency. That’s the stuff that worries me.”

As the company celebrates 25 years, there are parties, cakes and a refresh of the company values.

“We’ve taken the opportunity to reflect back but we know that the things that made us successful 25 years ago aren’t necessarily the things that will make us successful for the next 25 years.”