90 Years of J. Parker’s

Did you know that J. Parker's is a family-owned and run business? Did you also know that come April, we’ll have been up and running for 90 years? To celebrate, we’ve decided to share the history of the business, starting way back in 1933.

Humble Beginnings

In 1933, Martin Parker moved his family from Beverwijk, Holland to Manchester, England. This was during the height of The Great Depression, and he traveled to the UK to start a new venture – a wholesale mail-order bulb business.

Coming from generations of bulb growers and exporters, we aimed to provide customers with top-quality products at affordable prices. In those early days, the business was run from a small, terraced house on Chester Road in Manchester. This was where Martin and his wife, Joan, would package products. This small-scale operation ran throughout the late 1930s, all the way through World War II.

A Mini Gardening Boom

The business steadily grew, becoming more and more successful year after year. Then the 1950s came and brought an unexpected gardening boom. This encouraged Martin to expand the company – buying some farmland in Anwick, Lincolnshire. They decided to use this land to grow their own bulbs.

Martin’s son, Chris, joined the business, and soon enough the retail branch of the business was created too.

Britain’s First Postal Strike

After several decades of profitable trading, J. Parker’s experienced its first unforeseen ‘bump in the road’. In 1971, Britain’s first postal strike began. It lasted 7 gruelling weeks, affecting businesses across the country. Unfortunately, as we were trading so well, we had invested over a million pounds (in today’s money) in catalogues. These all went undelivered.

The strike put the business in a vulnerable position, forcing Martin to sell off acres of land in Anwick and even our full mailing list just to keep the doors open.

A Slow Road to Success

In the early ‘70s, Chris took charge of the retail business, and a few years later, the wholesale side too. In fact, the wholesale business was booming, thanks to strategic reader offers.

These reader offers showcased bargains and price comparisons against competitors. This was a controversial move back in the day and made quite a stir in the horticulture industry. The ‘70s also saw a change in our retail catalogues, which grew from a small read into a fully-fledged shopping catalogue.

Our New Headquarters

The business continued to grow, and we had to find a new headquarters. J. Parker’s moved to Hadfield Street in Manchester – our home to this day. In fact, the ‘80s saw multiple changes. The Manchester warehouse became the dispatch space for retail orders, and wholesale orders started being dispatched from the Anwick warehouse.

Martin helped run the Anwick warehouse into his old age. This allowed him to interact with customers in the Anwick garden centre – which he loved. Early 1992 saw the approval of a long-awaited expansion at the Lincolnshire site, which was put forward in 1990 but had been denied four times.

This helped us expand the grounds and build a house for a site manager to reside in. At this point, Martin was 80 and was quoted by a local newspaper saying “I will only retire when I have to through health problems. I love the job and all my people have died with their boots on.”

The Next Generation

Chris’s sons, Paul and Daniel, began doing odd jobs around the Manchester warehouse in their early teens during the school holidays, like cleaning and counting bulbs. After a few years at university studying business, Paul Parker officially joined in 1998. Soon after, Daniel followed suit, becoming the Flixton garden centre manager.

In 2016, Paul became Managing Director at J. Parker’s, until last year when he was made CEO. His father, Chris, remains the company Chairman and still works dedicatedly on the wholesale side of the business.

Present Day Parker’s

Fast forward to the present day - J. Parker’s is a booming business, and we continue to grow year after year. In 2021, we fulfilled our 5-year growth goal in just 12 months. Behind the scenes, we’re always thinking of new and exciting ways to expand and grow – For example, in 2022 we launched a new wholesale and retail website after months of hard work.