Store Directory | Details

TIMPSON

The original Timpson Company was founded in 1865 by William Timpson and is still 100% family owned. Five generations of Timpsons have been involved in the business that bears their name. Chief Executive John Timpson is the great grandson of the Founder, William Timpson, who at the age of 16 opened his first shop in Butler Street, Manchester in 1865. William learned his boot and shoe making craft in his native Northamptonshire, but he soon realised that it took a week to make a pair of boots, but only a few minutes to sell them. By 1869 William started trading at 97 Oldham Street, which he rented for £200 a year. This was the foundation of the multiple shoe business. He would personally sell 100 pairs of boots on a busy Saturday. He established a tradition of striking displays. Days were spent painstakingly polishing and arranging shoes for the windows until 97 Oldham Street became a magnet for window gazers, that William would do his best to turn into customers. Expansion followed profits, cautiously at first, but with increasing speed, shops were opened in other areas of Manchester, Kettering and Liverpool, followed by the first Timpson Boot factory (a shed at the bottom of the garden at the family home in Kettering). The Company grew rapidly in the 1930’s opening at least 10 shops each year. By the start of the Second World War, the business had 189 shops and 11 shoe repair factories with a large manufacturing plant making 17,000 pairs of shoes a week. During the war, as a result of enemy action, the mens warehouse was destroyed and the Company completely lost 9 shops and had severe disruption to 100 others. In 1946 the Company renewed its vigorous development. Mr Will (now 66), and his younger brother Noel, still had the enthusiasm and vision to create a rapidly growing business. They were the entrepreneurs that established Timpson as the name for shoes throughout the North of England and Scotland.

Manager:
01738 627542