Jarrold is already well known as the largest and much loved “corner shop” in Norwich. Unique, independent, and still very much a family business we celebrated our 250th year of trading in 2020. Obviously, this turned out to be a very different anniversary than was expected. Whist the pandemic brought a lot of challenge for us it also offered opportunity and the growth of our online business has been extremely strong. Along with everyone in the retail sector we are just beginning to get back on our feet instore and we wanted to extend a hand to others across Norfolk in doing so.
Jarrold Store Folk is a new venture for us, and we are inviting hand-selected local producers and suppliers, from major names to start ups and local concepts to sell their products and services on our website, enjoy promotion across our marketing channels and be part of pop ups throughout our stores. We’re striving to have an exciting and eclectic mix of creativity, innovation and relevancy and hope to showcase the very best of what Norfolk can offer. We also hope that once the time is right, we will be able to attend local events under this umbrella such as The Norfolk Show and other county fairs and festivals. As we extend our own label range there is also the opportunity to collaborate with us on new products. We believe this will enable us to showcase instore and online many of the creative and innovative makers, producers and entrepreneurs that are here in Norfolk and offer them an elevated platform for their businesses.
Jarrold General Manager John Adams said: “We are delighted to be able to partner with small local producers and suppliers with this new venture. There has been a growing trend towards shopping local and supporting independents and we know this will only grow. We are lucky that Norfolk has such an abundance of these businesses and in 2019 with the launch of our own label, food, and drink range we have already enjoyed working with many great producers who have developed unique products for our brand. We know our customers are a loyal bunch and that they simply love shopping local brands. We hope Store Folk will be a marketplace that will be bursting with the very best that Norfolk small businesses have to offer from candles to artisan household goods, paint to art. We hope that this exciting venture will enable our customers to discover a fresh, unique piece of Norfolk every time they visit.”
Store Folk was developed in partnership with global Platform as a Service (PaaS) company, Marketplacer. Established in 2016 in Melbourne, Australia, Marketplacer equips companies with the tools and functionality needed to build a successful and scalable online marketplace at speed. Marktplacer is used in both B2C and B2B environments and has helped over 90 enterprises build and deploy their own successful marketplace strategies connecting over 20,000 businesses worldwide.
Marketplacer co-founder and executive Chairman, Jason Wyatt, said “We are excited to be working alongside an historic UK brand in Jarrold to expand its reach, product range and customer experience while supporting local merchants in the region through the COVID-19 recovery. Marketplacer exists to make growth simple and has helped many retail brands through business transformation. The partnership is a great example of our growth in the UK and we feel privileged to be helping small, local businesses to showcase and sell their products.
Our first brand to come onboard was The Candle Brand https://www.thecandlebrand.co.uk and Christina their Managing Director said ''It has been an honor to work with Jarrold on the pilot of the pop-up shop in store. We have found all the staff to be friendly and helpful, and customers have loved the opportunity to see us there. The products have spoken for themselves, and we look forward to the continued working relationship with Jarrolds."
We’d like to encourage interested businesses to get in touch with us via www.jarrold.co.uk/store folk to register their interest and find out more.
For more information please contact:
Helga Clarke
Senior Marketing Manager
01603 660661 (ext 265)