Finding an emergency birthday card for your nephew could be about to get a little less stressful. Card Factory, one of the UK high street’s stationary stalwarts, is massively branching out.
The affordable card store already has over 1000 sites in the UK and Ireland and currently sells its stock in 22 Matalan stores. But in a major expansion, by the end of the year Card Factory will also be found at a total of 223 Matalan sites.
The ambitious move comes after Card Factory enjoyed a whopping 73 percent increase in its pre-tax profits across six months. It just goes to show: even in this digital age, handwritten cards remain exceptionally popular.
Darcy Willson-Rymer, Card Factory’s chief executive said: ‘Our value and quality proposition and the strength of our store estate resonates with customers and positions us well to navigate the challenging economic backdrop in the run-up to the Christmas trading season.’
He added that thanks to investment in customer data, the company has been able to ‘optimise our store formats and ranges across cards, gifts and celebration essentials, all underpinned by our discipline in maintaining a resilient financial position’.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows in the cards business, though. Card Factory’s good news comes as its rival Clinton Cards is closing a bunch of its stores to avoid going into insolvency, while other essential stationary spot TheWorks has also announced several closures.
ICYMI: here’s the full list of UK high street stores closing in 2023.
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