Manchester’s Clearance King acquires larger premises with Santander support

Clearance King, one of the UK’s largest wholesale suppliers, has acquired the freehold to significantly larger premises in Stockport to cater for record demand from its retail customers such as online sellers, market traders and shop owners. The purchase has been supported by significant funding from Santander Business Banking.

Clearance King, which specialises in supplying value retailers with low-cost goods and has no minimum order policy, saw substantial annual revenue growth in the FY2018 financial year and the new premises will allow the business to accommodate the exponential growth within the business.

A family run business trading for over 60 years, Clearance King imports and wholesales a wide variety of fast-selling branded and unbranded products from manufacturers based as far afield as China. The firm has grown into one of the most successful pound shop and pound line wholesale suppliers in Europe, and the largest such business in Manchester.

The support from Santander Business Banking includes a significant commercial mortgage to help fund the acquisition of the larger premises, and a VAT Deferment Loan to free up cash to help renovate the new building. By allowing Clearance King to warehouse more stock, the new larger site will in turn increase the purchasing power of the business resulting in better terms from its import partners. It will also allow it to list more products on the www.clearance-king.co.uk website.

Shazada Ahmed, director, Clearance King, said, “We are delighted to be able to move to these larger premises in Stockport. Thanks to our buying capacity we compete extremely effectively with other major wholesalers, and this extra space will help increase our competitiveness even further. The funding from the team at Santander has been key to helping Clearance King invest for growth.”

Afsar Hussain, business relationship director, Santander Business Banking, said: “Clearance King is positioned right at the heart of the UK’s vast value retail sector, and this move highlights the firm’s appetite for continued success. Its business model is based around a high volume of low-cost goods, and we are delighted to help Shazada and his team meet their aspirations for growth.”