A UK homewares retailer, based in Leicestershire, with about 200 stores selling curtains, bedding, furniture and home accessories.
Dunelm is a UK homewares retailer. It sells curtains and blinds, bedding, furniture, lighting, kitchen and dining items and home accessories through around 200 UK stores and its website. It also makes some products itself, with a factory in Leicester that produces curtains, blinds and accessories, and it runs Pausa coffee shops in some stores. Products are grouped by room, from sofas, rugs and mattresses to cushions, tableware and children's bedding, and customers can order online for home delivery or click and collect, a service that began as reserve and collect in 2011.
The story starts in 1979, when Bill and Jean Adderley began selling ready-made curtains, seconds curtains, bedding and slippers from a market stall in Leicester. The name comes from the house the family lived in. The first high street shop opened in Churchgate, Leicester in 1984, and the first out-of-town store opened in Rotherham in 1994. Will Adderley, their son, became managing director and later chief executive. The 100th store opened in 2010, the 180th in Greenwich in 2023 and the 200th in 2025. The family later moved to a first head office on Fosse Way in Syston in 1999, and it acquired a small Leicester manufacturer in 2001 to create its made-to-measure curtains and blinds workroom. A 50th store and a new warehouse in Burton-on-Trent followed in 2002, and its first shoppable website launched in 2005.
We did not find a formal mission statement in the pages we could read, as the values pages are separate from the history page. The history shows a long habit of practical community help: during the COVID-19 closures in 2020 its colleagues made more than 65,000 gowns and face coverings for the NHS and care homes.
Dunelm is headquartered in Syston, Leicestershire, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and sits in the FTSE 250. It trades across Great Britain, Ireland and Jersey. It bought the Dorma bed linen brand in 2008, WorldStores and Kiddicare in 2016, and Home Focus, with 13 stores in Ireland, in 2024. Clodagh Moriarty became chief executive in July 2025, and Alison Brittain is chair. The business traded as Dunelm Mill until it rebranded to Dunelm in 2013 and ran its first national TV campaign. In 2019 it recorded its first day of over one million pounds in online sales.
With nearly 12,000 employees reported for 2025, the company needs store teams, customer service, buying and design, manufacturing, warehouse and delivery colleagues, and digital, data and finance specialists. The launch of the Dunelm app in 2026 shows how much of the business now sits online as well as in shops.
Website: www.dunelm.com
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE