‘It's the perfect place for us’: How a North Yorkshire town helped family firm Jespers thrive for 125 years
As Jespers of Harrogate celebrates its 125th anniversary, shop manager Lynn Cummings tells Michael Crossland how listening to your team is the key to a successful business.
The year was 1901, and in a tiny attic workshop, on Harrogate’s Prospect Crescent, Foster Barrett Jesper was hand engraving yet another item for a prestigious client. Almost two decades before the first Betty’s would open its doors in the same town, Jesper was tucked away in the upper floors of his Harrogate workspace engraving items for London jewellers, large sporting businesses, and even the Royal Family.
But little did Jesper know that he was laying the foundations of a business that would still be going, and still be calling Harrogate its home, over a century later. And despite multiple location changes, and new owners taking over the family firm, Jesper’s name still hangs above the door of the company he founded to this day.
Now primarily a stationery shop, and firmly cemented as a local institution, Jespers of Harrogate is this year celebrating its 125th anniversary.
And according to Lynn Cummings, now shop manager at Jespers, it is the town’s embracing of the business that has sent it from strength to strength.
“I think it’s just the community,” says Cummings, speaking to The Yorkshire Post.
“I think Harrogate is very big on embracing independent businesses, so it’s kind of the perfect place for us.
“That’s why people come to Harrogate. People like to come to a town where there’s something different, you know, something niche. And Harrogate has got that. Not only ourselves, but there are a number of other long-standing businesses as well.”
By the mid 1920s, Jesper had moved his business from Harrogate’s Prospect Crescent to Parliament Terrace, with his son Dennis Jesper going on to take over the reins of the family firm.
Dennis would introduce the process of machine engraving for the company, going on to secure several nationwide contracts to engrave name plates in brass, bronze and bakelite.
During the 1940s, while the Second World War was ongoing, Dennis and his chief machinist, Jack Elsworth, would begin engraving control panels for early radar systems. Having signed the Official Secrets Acts, the pair would keep the work secret even from their family and friends until long after the war had ended.
In the 1950s, Charles Jesper, the son of Dennis, would become the third generation of the family to join the business. The decade would also see the firm take its first steps into selling stationary supplies, a move which would lead to the company opening its first store on Oxford Street.
The following decade, Jespers would find its permanent location at No14 Oxford Street, less than a five minute walk from the company’s original site.
In 1979, Peter Jesper became the fourth generation of the Jesper family to serve at the company, and would hold the position of managing director until 2019 when he retired.
Peter’s retirement also saw 118 years of the family’s stewardship over the firm come to an end, with the Vickers family, owners of Leeds-based Vickers Oils, stepping in to take over.
“The Vickers family had the foresight to see what a wonderful, wonderful opportunity this was to take the business to the next chapter,” says Cummings.
“The Vickers family have spent a lot of time, money, and effort on the business, and we’re still successful today, when a lot of other businesses are no longer here.
“We’re still trading. We’re still welcoming our regular customers, and we’re finding that we’re getting so many new customers as well.”
Like all businesses, Jespers has not been immune to shocks and more difficult periods.
In the early 2000s, the company closed its store on Castlegate York, which had been opened in the 1980s. The company’s commercial arm, in Dunnington, was also sold off in 2015.
But despite the changes, the company is still going strong into the second half of the 2020s.
The secret to its success, Cummings believes, is to always “have a good ear”.
“Listen to your team,” she says.
“Listen to your team, and listen to your customers, because your customers are the ones who keep guided with what products are popular. It’s about their needs. And your team are thrones who have been speaking to them.”
While the fifth generation of the Jesper family would eventually come to work at the business, before leaving to seek career paths in other fields, the company is now employing a new generation of staff.
Ella Samson, a retail assistant and keyholder at Jespers, joined just two years ago, and also writes the Jespers Blog
As well as reflecting a new generation of people joining Jespers, Samson also believes that a new generation are coming in and finding joy in what the company sells.
“You can see how it’s kind of turned into more of a hobby, with people collecting,” she says.
“It’s cool to see young people to come in still and try out the fountain pens.”
Reflecting on her own time at Jespers, Samson is also very happy to have joined.
“I’ve always loved stationery. Your fountain pens and things like that,” she says.
“I was really interested in joining the shop, and my previous work experience kind of aligned with what I’d be able to do here. And then I got the job. I’ve loved it, it’s perfect for me.”