The Original Factory Shop
| Private | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department Store |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Founder | Peter Blacks |
| Headquarters | Burnley, England, United Kingdom |
|
Area served
|
United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
Emma Fox, CEO (2017) |
| Products | Various |
| Revenue | £193 million |
| Owner | Duke Street Capital |
|
Number of employees
|
2,100 (2010) |
| Website | The Original Factory Shop Website |
The Original Factory Shop is a discount department store that was established in 1969 and also trades as "tofs". It currently operates over 200 stores across the United Kingdom.
The Original Factory Shop was established in 1969 as part of Peter Black's empire, at first selling soap that was overmade by one of Black's factories. Expanding at a steady rate the now nationwide chain has over 215 outlets and has plans to have 500 stores by 2020. Its newest shop opened in Aberfeldy, Scotland, in April 2017
The chain sells a wide range of products including fashion, homewares, toys and personal care products. The products can be from the chain's own lines, branded products or cut label products from a high street chain or supermarket. During 2010 to 2011, the chain expanded its warehouse and offices in Burnley by 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) to provide for the future needs of the business.
In the middle of 2010, The Original Factory Shop opened its online store, at first selling a limited range of instore products. In the middle of 2011, the online store was redeveloped several times and many new products were added, including more items from instore and also exclusive online products such as beds, home appliances and large toys.
In August 2011, The Original Factory Shop offered customers the chance to book and pay for products instore. Since its opening the online store has proved strong sales.
Sales for the last six weeks of December 2010 were very strong, up 23%. This was caused by extreme weather conditions forcing people to shop locally. During this time, the company achieved their best day of sales on 24 December 2010, Christmas Eve.
Their other achievements in this period included selling a pair of wellington boots every nine seconds of trading time, and selling three times more advent calendars for dogs than human advent calendars. Also in this period, the chain opened eight new stores across the United Kingdom, meaning the chain opened 31 new stores in 2010. The company opened a total of 15 new stores in 2011, 11 in 2012 and 9 in 2013. A further 15 opened in 2014.
In 2011, the chain did not perform as well with profits reduced, due to economic conditions and massive investment in the chain, including many store openings, expansion of headquarters and warehouse and upgrading store equipment.
The chief executive of The Original Factory Shop is former Lloyds Pharmacy boss Tony Page, who replaced Angela Spindler in June 2013. In May 2010, rumours surfaced that the parent company Duke Street Capital put the chain up for sale for £200 million. These rumours were later denied by The Original Factory Shop and Duke Street Capital.
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Wikipedia