Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Housewares multiple retailer Lakeland has opened a £10m extension to its distribution centre at Kendal in Cumbria, giving it the capacity to operate up to 200 stores both in the UK and overseas.
Founded 50 years ago in Windermere, Lakeland offers a range of more than 4,000 products, sold online and in 68 stores in the UK. The specialist chain also operates nine stores in the Middle East and two in India, while its dedicated website for German consumers, lakeland.de, is now celebrating its first birthday.
Lakeland said the expansion will create 100 new jobs over the next 10 years. It describes the Kendal site as ‘the engine room of the company’, with more than 7 million products a year despatched from this location to customers in over 70 countries.
The family-run firm added that its UK business ‘continues to go from strength to strength’, with sales in 2013 the highest in the company’s history. Commenting on the opening of the extension, Lakeland managing director Sam Rayner said: “We have an incredibly loyal and industrious workforce here in Cumbria, and with some staff at the centre having been with Lakeland for over 30 years, it was right for us to expand here.
“The company was founded in the Lake District and that’s where our heart is. The infrastructure was already in place and it made perfect sense for us to take this next step and to expand in this way. As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, it’s a very exciting time for Lakeland, and with the expansion becoming operational, we can now look forward to the ongoing growth of the business.”
