Latest news with #MullardFurnitureIndustries
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MFI Retail Chain Back After Collapsing Nearly 20 Years Ago
Nearly 20 years after collapsing into administration a beloved retail chain is making a surprise comeback. MFI is set to make its grand return to the United Kingdom after falling into administration in 2008 following the global financial crisis. The retail business was originally founded in 1964 as Mullard Furniture Industries by Noel Lister and Donald Searle. At one point the retail giant had more than 200 stores across the UK and delivered more than 50 million items a year before the introduction of Ikea to the area. Once one of the largest suppliers of kitchens and bedroom furniture in the country, MFI was "quietly obtained" by Victorian Plumbing in May 2024 before its reinvention of the brand to come in late 2026, according to a report from This is Money. "I am very excited about the upcoming re-invention of MFI, allowing us to tap in to more of the £20billion UK homewares market," founder and chief executive Mark Radcliffe said in a statement. "Our dedicated and ambitious team, decades of e-commerce knowledge and best-in-class proprietary software, together with the recognizable MFI brand, will help to deliver our strategic ambition over the medium-term." The MFI brand was initially purchased by Victoria Plum after it fell into administration and was relaunched as an online only retailer November 2011, but lasted less than four years before it ceased operation again in July 2015. "Having invested significantly in preparing the business for future growth last year, I am pleased with the group's strategic progress in the first half," Radcliffe added in a forecast for the new venture. "We are fully operational in our new purpose built warehouse and have continued to improve our customer proposition, while expanding product range into other rooms within the home and taking significant market share gains in a subdued trading backdrop."
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MFI Retail Chain Back After Collapsing Nearly 20 Years Ago
Nearly 20 years after collapsing into administration a beloved retail chain is making a surprise comeback. MFI is set to make its grand return to the United Kingdom after falling into administration in 2008 following the global financial crisis. The retail business was originally founded in 1964 as Mullard Furniture Industries by Noel Lister and Donald Searle. At one point the retail giant had more than 200 stores across the UK and delivered more than 50 million items a year before the introduction of Ikea to the area. Once one of the largest suppliers of kitchens and bedroom furniture in the country, MFI was "quietly obtained" by Victorian Plumbing in May 2024 before its reinvention of the brand to come in late 2026, according to a report from This is Money. "I am very excited about the upcoming re-invention of MFI, allowing us to tap in to more of the £20billion UK homewares market," founder and chief executive Mark Radcliffe said in a statement. "Our dedicated and ambitious team, decades of e-commerce knowledge and best-in-class proprietary software, together with the recognizable MFI brand, will help to deliver our strategic ambition over the medium-term." The MFI brand was initially purchased by Victoria Plum after it fell into administration and was relaunched as an online only retailer November 2011, but lasted less than four years before it ceased operation again in July 2015. "Having invested significantly in preparing the business for future growth last year, I am pleased with the group's strategic progress in the first half," Radcliffe added in a forecast for the new venture. "We are fully operational in our new purpose built warehouse and have continued to improve our customer proposition, while expanding product range into other rooms within the home and taking significant market share gains in a subdued trading backdrop."
Daily Mirror
14-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Famous furniture chain once popular with millions of Brits is making a comeback
Flat pack furniture chain MFI enjoyed booming sales in the 70s and 80s - and is now being revived by its new owners Famous furniture firm MFI is making another comeback - 18 years after its collapse. Online bathroom business Victorian Plumbing, which now owns the brand, announced a 'reinvented' MFI will launch in the first half of next year. Mark Radcliffe, founder and boss of Victorian Plumbing, said: 'I am very excited about the upcoming re-invention of MFI, allowing us to tap in to more of the £20billion UK homewares market.' MFI - or Mullard Furniture Industries - started in 1964 selling surplus government stock after the Second World War, originally as a mail order business. Sales boomed, boosted by Tory leader Margaret Thatcher's sell-off of council homes, leading the firm to open a wave of stores across the country selling flat-pack furniture long before the arrival of Swedish rival Ikea. At one stage it was the UK's biggest furniture retailer, with millions of families flocking to its branches when they were sprucing up their homes. It was said that, at it peak, one in three Sunday lunches was made in an MFI kitchen, and 60% of children were conceived in an MFI bedroom. So popular was MFI that the firm recruited stars from hit soap opera Coronation Street to branch openings. But competition and the credit crunch saw MFI collapse in 2008, with the loss of 1,200 jobs. At the time of its demise its store estimate had shrunk from more than 200 around 111. The brand was later bought then relaunched as a website-only business in 2011, but it ceased. Victorian Plumbing got the MFI brand and website address when it snapped-up similarly sounding Victoria Plum, which went out of business last year. Sources said the relaunched MFI was likely to stock kitchen and bedroom ranges, as well as sofas, with the brand itself given a refresh. Around £3million is being pumped into the venture, which will be houses in two standalone warehouses in Skelmersdale, Lancashire. Victorian Plumbing, which is also based in Skelmersdale, said it was braced for MFI to make a loss over the next two financial years.
