Couple’s gift boxes firm is delivering a lot of success
MOVE FROM HOME TO WAREHOUSE
A LETTERBOX gift company set up by a Derby couple during lockdown has been so popular it is moving into its first commercial premises to allow the business to grow.
Colleague Box, which Adam and Natalie Bamford set up in March, allows companies to send tasty treats and personal messages through the post to connect remote workers or as a welcome back gift for furloughed staff.
Despite being set up during the peak of the pandemic, the business has been so successful the couple have secured the lease on a 3,500 sq ft warehouse, with adjoining office space, in Sawley Park, Nottingham Road.
Until now the company has been run from the couple’s Spondon home and storage unit, so the move will allow them to offer a greater range of giftboxes and to recruit additional staff.
“It has been a whirlwind few months for the company, but Adam and I are thrilled to have the keys to Colleague Box HQ,” said Natalie.
“We have outgrown our living room now and with an order received for 20,000 Halloween-themed boxes – which each contain a rather large pumpkin – the move to bigger premises is much-needed and most welcome.
“The warehouse has plenty of space for packing with big tables and work stations, while the office space will give us some welcome room for the administration side of the company.”
The move was supported by Marketing Derby, which provided site searches and arranged viewings with agents, while the University of Derby sourced eight students to work in the warehouse.
Adam and Natalie intend to recruit further staff to help put together a new range of Christmas boxes and £1 from every box will be donated to their chosen charity, Safe and Sound Group.
Colleague Box has also been selected as a finalist in the Marketing Derby Innovation Week competition, which celebrates companies that have developed innovative ways of working and new products since the onset of Covid19. Natalie, creative director, said: “This move has come at the perfect time for us. Christmas looks likely to be extremely busy and we are getting lots of inquiries for custom-made boxes which we really enjoy – nothing is impossible and we absolutely love devising really unique boxes.
“Our boxes have been used to help employee engagement, as thank-you gifts, congratulations and more recently they’ve also been used for online awards and virtual celebrations which have been very well received.”
She added: “It’s a really exciting time for Colleague Box and we’re so pleased that something good has come out of such a difficult year.”