Industry Retail Number of locations 24 Number of employees 425 Founder John and Molly Nichols | Website yorkshiretrading.com Founded 1954 Type of business Limited | |
 | ||
Key people James, Edward & Michael Nichols Products clothing, crafts, homeware, haberdashery, DIY, toys, confectionery, pet care Headquarters Kingston upon Hull, United Kingdom | ||
The Yorkshire Trading Company is a chain of variety and discount stores founded and based in Northern England, it is a family run business dating back to 1954 and is now into the third and fourth generations. It operates 24 stores from as far north as Morpeth to Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.
Contents
History
In 1964, John Nichols opened his first shop in Kingston upon Hull, by 1985 the Nichols family (John, his wife Molly and his two sons Paul and Robert) had eight stores in towns such as Whitby and Bridlington, and in 1995 the store count had increased to 12 with locations in Richmond and Ripon. With the demise of high street giant Woolworths in 2008, 11 more shops were also added to the portfolio.
The business had several speciality stores under different names; James Piper was the name given to a glassware store in Driffield operated by Tom Nichols, John's youngest son. Other store names such as JC Nichols and Barmy Bob's were phased out in 2000 as the company rebranded all of their locations under the Yorkshire Trading Company banner and became a limited company.
In 2015, work was completed on the construction of a new purpose built distribution centre and head office, costing £7 million.
Rydale Clothing
A range of outdoor, equestrian and country fashion that is designed in-house and manufactured mostly in the United Kingdom.The first Rydale products were imported in 2001 (then known as Snow Drop) and since then it has become the largest clothing operation on trade show circuits around the UK, with over 140 shows attended.
Goodwins
Goodwins is a single price point store, selling nearly all items for £1. As of 2016 only four "Goodwins" branded stores are known to be operational, the original being found in Bridlington and the others in Scarborough on the site of a former JJB Sports, Northallerton High Street and Richmond. There is no mention of the Goodwins brand on the Yorkshire Trading website as of 2016.