Pavers Ltd, also known as Pavers Shoes, is a family-owned footwear business operating in the UK and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Pavers currently has more than 100 stores, all managed from the head office in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. The company has grown rapidly in recent years and online. In 2011, Pavers launched its 24-hour TV footwear

shopping channel Shopping channels (also known in British English as teleshopping) are a type of television program or specialty channel devoted to home shopping. Their formats typically feature live presentations and demonstrations of products, hosted by on-air pr ...

on Sky. Pavers was established by Catherine Paver in 1971, with a £300 bank loan (), initially by organising shoe parties with clearance stock from shoe catalogues. The first shop was opened in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

, along with stores in

and Hull. The shop in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

soon followed. The first shop was opened in 1996 at the

Royal Quays Royal Quays is an area of North Shields, North Tyneside, England, beside the River Tyne. Built on the site of former docks, and containing the pre-existing North Shields International Ferry Terminal, the area was renamed Royal Quays in 1990 and r ...

outlet centre in

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

. The company currently has outlet stores from

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond (; gd, Loch Laomainn - 'Lake of the Elms'Richens, R. J. (1984) ''Elm'', Cambridge University Press.) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of C ...

in Scotland, to Trerulefoot in southeast Cornwall.

Directors

Pavers continues to be a family-run business, run by Cathy's son Stuart Paver as the managing director. Ian and Graham Paver, Cathy's two other sons, have now both retired. Stuart, along with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

-based Steve Cochrane, owner of the Psyche Department Store, set up a sister company in 2000 to sell footwear online. This company recently amalgamated with Pavers, which brought the online shoe ordering ability with it.

Lifetime achievement award

Founder Cathy Paver was given a lifetime achievement award by her peers at the 2007 Drapers Footwear awards, 36 years after starting the company.

Charity work

Pavers supports several UK-based and international charities. In 2006, through a limited edition shoe design, they raised £45,000 for

Marie Curie Cancer Care Marie Curie is a registered charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which provides care and support to people living with a terminal illness and those close to them, and campaigns for better support for dying people. It was established in 19 ...

. For the past 10 years, the company has been involved with sponsoring and supporting children in third-world countries. Currently, Pavers is sponsoring three children through

Compassion International Compassion International is an American child sponsorship and Christian humanitarian aid organization headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that aims to positively influence the long-term development of children globally who live in pov ...

Expansion

In 2008, Pavers announced the opening of its new business, Pavers England Footprints Limited, in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Pavers England Limited (PEL) is a joint venture between Pavers Ltd. and the

Foresight Group Foresight most commonly refers to: * Foresight (psychology), the ability to predict or plan for the future * Mental time travel or episodic foresight, the ability to reconstruct events from the past and imagine future events * Precognition, a claim ...

. At a press launch, Pavers revealed that they expected a sales turnover of $10 million. As part of the project, Pavers announced they would commission a $3 million footwear design studio in Chennai. In February 2018, Pavers acquired

Jones Bootmaker Jones Bootmaker is a footwear retailer based in the United Kingdom, with forty-two retail outlets throughout the United Kingdom. History In 1857, Alfred and Emma Jones opened a footwear shop in Bayswater, London. Jones was a pioneer in the i ...

from administrators in a pre-pack deal. They also purchased specialist online retailer Herring Shoes in July 2018.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Pavers Shoes UK websitePavers Shoes Ireland websitePavers Shoes US website
Retail companies established in 1971 Companies based in York Shoe companies of the United Kingdom Footwear retailers Family-owned companies of the United Kingdom