History of Kirklands

Kirklands (Staffordshire) Limited was established in 1947 by the Barnett Family in Etruria, Stoke on Trent.

In February 1970 the business was joined by Eric Whitmore who purchased shares and started to develop Kirklands by introducing Catering Equipment, to broaden their offering.

1977/1978 brought changes when it was decided to trade locally and customers would visit the shop rather than Kirklands going to them. Kirklands purchased the premises at 27 City Road Stoke-on-Trent in July of 1977 and opened in January of 1978.

Kirklands enjoyed great success until one morning in July 1981 when they received a letter of compulsory purchase.

This was confirmed by the council in August 1983 and the search for a new premise began!

After several months of searching and discussion on how to finance the move. Kirklands found a new premises, some 50 yards away from the old City Road premises.

The new shop had to first be cleaned and refurbished before we could open to customers. The previous owners were in the pottery manufacturing business and had left a lot to clean up. 26 skips of rubbish were filled and removed from the shop.

To make the new store fit for purpose several alterations had to be made these took place between September 1985 and 1986. We moved lock, stock and barrel, a working day started at 8 am and finished at 8 pm with the only day off being Christmas day.

For the official opening day, Kirklands send out over 1,000 invitations. This resulted in just over 300 guests in attendance which helped to increase sales and has helped to establish the customers we still have today!

Kirkland is still owned by the Whitmore Family. Eric Whitmore, the first of the

Whitmore family retired in 1996, his son Neil joined in 1978 followed by his brother Gary in 1983. Today Kirklands is managed by two generations of the Whitmore family, the latest edition is Michael (son of Gary) who joined the family business in 2005.