The Original Factory Shop (Todmorden)

Operations
The Original Factory Shop was established in 1969 as part of Peter Black's empire, at first selling soap that was overmade by one of Blacks factories. Expanding at a steady rate the now nationwide chain has over 160 outlets and has plans to have 500 stores by 2020. The company opened its newest store in Carterton in October 2011.

The chain sells a wide range of products including fashion, homewares, toys and personal care products. The products can be from the chains own lines, branded products or lines that were unwanted from a high street chain or supermarket. This allows the The Original Factory Shop to discount items by up to 70% in price.

During 2010 - 2011 the chain expanded its warehouse and offices in Burnley by 10,000 square feet (930 m2) to provide for the future needs of the business.

Online Operations
In mid 2010 The Original Factory Shop opened its online store, at first selling a limited range of instore products. In mid 2011 the online store was redeveloped several times and many new products were added, including more items from instore and also exclusive online products such as beds, home appliances and large toys. In August 2011 The Original Factory Shop offered customers the chance to book and pay for products instore. Since its opening the online store has proved strong sales.

Performance
Sales for the last 6 weeks of December 2010 were very strong, up 23%. This was caused by extreme weather conditions forcing people to shop locally. During this time the company achieved their best day of sales on 24th December 2010. There other achievements in theis period included selling a pair of wellington boots every nine seconds of trading time, and selling three times more advent calenders for dogs than human advent calenders. Also in this period the chain opened 8 new stores across the UK, meaing the chain opened 31 new stores in 2010. The company targets to open 35 new stores in 2011, meaning almost 200 overall.