Candy canes and sustainability are the central themes on the retailer’s mood boards as it anticipates its customers looking for fun and eco-friendly cards next year.

And it’s not just Christmas that Card Factory is celebrating. The company, which has 1,020 stores across the UK and Ireland and two million customers a week, also marked 25 years in business this month.

Founder Dean Hoyle opened Card Factory’s first high street store on Teall Street in Wakefield on November 1, 1997. He sold the business to private equity firm Charterhouse in 2010 for £350m, and in May 2014, it floated on the London Stock Exchange.

“I spoke to Dean yesterday,” reveals Canadian chief executive Darcy Willson-Rymer as we meet at the Wakefield headquarters. “I said thank you for the legacy that you left. He reflected and said ‘nobody’s ever called and thanked me before’.”

Card Factory, which employs over 9,170 people, is currently going through a major transformation programme under Mr Willson-Rymer, 57, who joined the company in March 2021.

Last year, he outlined his ambitious plans to transition the company, which achieved revenues of £364m in 2022, from store-led to an omni-channel retailer targeting over £600m of sales in 2026.

It’s no mean feat considering the economic uncertainty surrounding inflation and the fact that footfall is still 10-15 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.

While Card Factory was set up to sell greetings cards, the focus now is the growing gift market. “We will always be card-led but we want people to come in and find a card for their mum’s birthday and also pick up a little gift,” says Mr Willson-Rymer.

Card Factory is also testing 10 new format stores, including one on Lands Lane in Leeds city centre, as it looks to improve the shopping experience.

The move marks the first time the greeting cards retailer has undertaken a major store format upgrade in its history. It intends to make it easier to find cards and gifts at the same time.

“Hopefully next year we’ll be able to say here’s the results of the test and here’s what we’re going to do next. But, yeah, we’re pleased with the progress,” Mr Willson-Rymer says.

Card Factory is also building up its partnerships with other retailers, including supermarkets, to capture the impulse purchase market. “When it’s seven o’clock at night and you’ve got to buy your mother a card, you’re not going to search out a Card Factory, you’re going to go to the supermarket,” Mr Willson-Rymer says.

This format, which currently sees the retailer selling cards in half of UK Aldi supermarkets, is also the key to international growth, he adds.

Mr Willson-Rymer hired a new head of business development last year and is testing out the format in The Reject Shop in Australia.

If it works, the format could be rolled out into other English-speaking countries as well as India and the Middle East.

Mr Willson-Rymer, who describes himself as ‘optimistic and upbeat’, says the ‘privilege of service’ is what drives him the most in a career that has seen him head up Costcutter, Clinton Cards and Starbucks. “When a customer walks through the door, we’re in control of how the customer feels when they leave,” he says.

The father of two grown up daughters says he hasn’t seen any changes to buying patterns among Card Factory customers as the cost of living crisis worsens. “Customers are telling us they want to continue to celebrate the important milestones in life and still have a good Christmas,” he adds. “What’s important is that we have the right pricing architecture and the right value.”

While Card Factory continues to sell 29p cards – its lowest price point from 25 years ago – its top price point of £2.49 has increased to £2.99 for wedding cards.

“We haven’t just pushed the price up, we’ve added value to these cards,” Mr Willson-Rymer says. “We’ve put more raised embossed foil on the front and more words inside.”

The company’s 70-strong studio team designs 75 per cent of the cards and gifts it sells. About 80 per cent of its cards are manufactured at its factory in Baildon, Bradford. The factory has the capacity to produce 270m cards a year, with the opportunity to grow capacity to 400m cards a year.

Meanwhile, the business is having to be more efficient in terms of its purchasing and it hedged its operations against rising energy prices and currency fluctuations. “Between all of that activity we’re really confident that we can maintain the value proposition,” he says.

He adds: “We’ve got a substantial transformation agenda and the main challenge is the prioritisation, making the right investments and getting things right the first time, but those things are within our control.

“The thing I fear above anything else is complacency. That’s the stuff that worries me.”

As the company celebrates 25 years, there are parties, cakes and a refresh of the company values.

Mr Willson-Rymer says: “We’ve taken the opportunity to reflect back but we know that the things that made us successful 25 years ago aren’t necessarily the things that will make us successful for the next 25 years.”

He adds: “The reality of the card market, in volume terms, is in a small decline and has been for years, but it’s still a sizable market. It’s robust and resilient and will still be here in another 25 years. We help people celebrate love. That’s what we do.

“In 2020, during covid, we went through the largest experiment around UK retail that you could. We shut 1,000 stores for a third of the year, twice, and sent all the business into supermarkets and online. Each time we reopened our stores, our market share returned.”

Card Factory's chief executive reveals his biggest fear as the retail giant celebrates 25 years