2017 is here which means one thing… Springfield are turning 40! We’re taking this year to look back at how far we have come and to celebrate all the successes that we have achieved. We couldn’t have done this without YOU! Thank you all for your support and loyalty to our business. If you want to read how it all started, you’ve come to the right place! Enjoy!
In 1977, Springfield was founded by James Shedden. The business started operating as a supplier of stationery products to just local businesses in the Bristol area. Based in Brendon Road, Bedminster, Springfield outgrew its premises and then relocated to Atlas Road, Bedminster and then again on to the memorable Victorian warehouse, also known as No. 10 Feeder Road, St Phillips!
What a place…
Throughout the years demand for our paper products significantly increased which resulted in the decision in 1993 to concentrate solely on supplying business papers and selling the stationery side of the business. Paper stock holding requirements made it necessary to rent an adjacent warehouse property. This however was separated from the original property in Feeder Road by a narrow cobbled lane into which delivery vehicles had to reverse. Avoidance of collision with the wall tested the skills of some drivers! (Pictured: Pawel Mamel, our Warehouse Manager running to the rescue)
As time went on, Springfield developed into two main branches: Springfield Business Papers based in Feeder Road, and Bespoke Printed Envelopes operating from a new base in Yeovil, Somerset. In 2002, John and Margaret Coldrick, and their son Roland (a name you might recognise) purchased the business papers part of Springfield. Before then, John had managed the Bristol branch since 1994 and Roland had worked for Springfield in a sales role since 1997.
Additional skills and experience were then brought into the business when Alastair Leflaive joined the partnership in 2003 and Lloyd Hamilton joined in 2005. The business continued to grow under the new ownership with sales more than doubling between 2003 and 2013. It then became urgent to find a significantly bigger premises if tonnage growth was to be maintained! After a long search, in 2010 the partners were successful in acquiring a 28,000 sq ft facility in St Ivel Way, Warmley.
After starting life as a distribution warehouse for St Ivel, the building had been converted to become the Head Office and Call Centre for the well-known Bristol firm, Kleeneze. It is understood that as many as 300 Kleeneze staff worked in the large, open plan Call Centre. Planning consent was obtained to convert the building back to a warehouse with peripheral offices. The conversion work was completed in 3 months and we moved into our new premises.
Over the recent years, sales, customer services, admin and finance staff numbers have increased, and it has become necessary to construct new offices on the first floor. We moved in to these new offices in January 2017 and now have the option to incorporate the ground floor offices in to warehouse space as the business continues to grow.