Hobbycraft
The Arts and Crafts Superstore
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|
| Private | |
| Industry | Retail , arts and crafts sector |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Christchurch, Dorset, UK |
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Key people
|
Catriona Marshall - chief executive |
| Products | art and craft and hobbyist materials |
| Revenue | £7M (2014) 
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Number of employees
|
250 - 1000 |
| Website | www.hobbycraft.co.uk |
Hobbycraft is an arts and crafts superstore retail chain in the United Kingdom. When the company started out there were only small independent arts and crafts suppliers, however a number of other online and High Street retail chains now operate in the same market place as HobbyCraft.
It was started by the Haskins group, a nursery and garden supplier in the south of England, and was bought by investment group Bridgepoint in 2010.
The first store opened in Dorset in 1995. There are currently 85 stores across the UK, the newest being in Greenwich & Borehamwood, with a new store opened in Ashford on May 21st 2016.
The stores have been blamed for putting independent craft suppliers out of business, and the amount of choice for specific hobbies has been said to be not as good as in specialised stores. HobbyCraft reported a 10% increase in sales in early 2010, and opened two new stores, with the chief executive saying arts and crafts are a low cost hobby and so he believes they will do well despite difficulties in the economy.
In 2012, the company made EBITDA of £15.6m, a 9% rise on the previous year.
In 2010-2011, Hobbycraft quickly brought in a new shipping system under the guidance of Hobbycraft IT Director, Mike Thomas a former supply chain director, IT and Business Development Director for the defunct Entertainment UK and Woolworths Group companies in which he had held active senior director/shareholder roles
During the deployment of the new IT system, Hobbycraft management also decided to relocate the distribution centre operations from Blandford Forum to Burton-upon-Trent.
In Oct 2013, it was revealed that "Hobbycraft's pre-tax profits fell from £11.5m to £6.3m last year after the company incurred exceptional costs of £2.8m, mostly as a result of the decision to relocate its distribution from Dorset to Staffordshire."
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Wikipedia