The UK's specialist retailer of cards, gifts and celebration essentials, with over 1,000 shops, designing and making many of its own products.
Card Factory is a UK retailer of greeting cards, gifts, balloons, gift wrap and party and celebration essentials. It says it is the UK's leading specialist retailer of cards, gifts and celebration essentials, selling through shops, a website and an app. It also offers personalised cards and gifts, click and collect, and an event reminder service for birthdays and anniversaries.
Its stated purpose is "we believe life is for celebrating", and it aims to help customers celebrate all of life's moments. It says its points of difference are products designed, printed and made in the UK, a wide choice including exclusive ranges from in-house designers, and value pricing. It also says it has raised over £6 million for Macmillan Cancer Support through fundraising events.
Dean and Janet Hoyle founded the business, selling cards from a van at car boot sales from 1993, and the first shop opened on Teall Street in Wakefield in 1997. Its head office is in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The company says it has over 1,000 stores across the UK and Ireland. Wikipedia says it serves only the UK and that it listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2014.
Janet Hoyle founded and led the in-house design and print function, which points to a company where design and printing sit alongside retail. It supplies cards to other retailers as well, for example Aldi and Matalan. In 2025 it bought the Funky Pigeon brand from WHSmith. The company's own About page gives no colleague numbers, so its annual report gives more detail. For the year to 31 January 2025 it reported 1,090 stores across the UK and Ireland. Its values include leading the way and staying curious, celebrating difference, making it happen, doing the right thing and caring for colleagues and nurturing communities. It says its large print site, Printcraft in Baildon, Yorkshire, makes about 90% of the cards it sells. The same report gives UK colleague numbers as at January 2025: 8,338 retail colleagues, 464 support colleagues, 267 in distribution, 124 in manufacturing and 68 in design. It describes store training called The cardfactory Way and a welcome programme called Welcome to the Party. It supports Macmillan Cancer Support through an 18-year partnership and runs the Card Factory Foundation and a Giving Something Back programme for local charities.
The people at Card Factory work as shop colleagues and store managers, card and gift designers, printers and production staff, buyers, merchandisers, logistics and warehouse teams, online and marketing specialists and head office colleagues. Check its careers site for current vacancies.
Website: www.cardfactory.co.uk
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