Gardners’ is an international wholesalers of
books
A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...
,
eBooks
An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...
,
music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
and
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
. They work with multi-channel retailers worldwide, both online and on the high street, to supply physical and digital products. They offer back to store or direct to consumer on their behalf through a consumer direct fulfilment service.
Gardners are based in a 350,000 square foot facility in
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...
in
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...
. They offer access to over 500,000 products in stock for same day dispatch, as well as over 1.5 million eBooks available for instant fulfilment.
As the main book distributor in the UK, most UK bookshops get their book supply from Gardners.
History
The company was founded in 1986 by Alan Little and still has involvement from other family members Jonathan Little and Andrew Little.
In 2010, it opened Hive.co.uk, a direct retail store that shares profits with nominated independent UK book stores, from which it allows local pickup.
In 2017, Gardners announced an expansion with a increased sized warehouse and 100 more jobs at their headquarters in Eastbourne. The business already employing 800 in the area.
In 2020, with the launch of the UK arm of
Bookshop.org, Gardners became a partner in the company, handling all UK distribution for the Bookshop.org, fulfilling orders directly.
In 2020, The Little Group bought out Gardners' rival
Bertrams
Bertram Trading Limited, commonly referred to as Bertrams, was the second largest United Kingdom based wholesaler of books, owned since 2018 by Aurelius Investments. It has 200,000 titles available for same-day despatch and has access to over 13 ...
, incorporating it into Gardners which ran from the former Bertrams warehouse.
2023 has seen Gardners expand to opening a U.S. arm to the company, with an aim to grow in that market.
See also
*
List of book distributors
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, bu ...
References
External links
Gardners official websiteGardners on Companies House database
Wholesalers of the United Kingdom
British literature
Companies based in East Sussex
Eastbourne
Book distributors
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