Baker Ross is expanding its warehouse facilities in response to “significant” online sales growth.
The arts and crafts supplier, a new entry to the RXUK Top500 this year – where it is ranked Top500 – says up to 50 new jobs could be added to its 100-strong workforce as it takes on new warehousing at the Icon Harlow logistics development.
Paul Baker, director at Baker Ross, says: “We supply thousands of organisations each year and have seen significant growth in our ecommerce operations. We identified Icon Harlow as the ideal location to continue the development of our business and to facilitate our growth plans. These new state-of-the-art facilities will allow us to remain in Harlow and enable us to invest in the local area by expanding our workforce to around 150 people. We’re very much looking forward to moving in.”
Baker Ross, a family-run business, supplies arts, crafts and educational products to schools, groups and charities in the UK and Europe, as well as selling direct to customers online.
It has taken one of the final units in a scheme built partly on a speculative basis. Now a second phase of the Icon Industrial development is under way, as demand for warehousing grows.
Angus Huntley, development manager at Stoford, said: “It is very pleasing to have exchanged the letting to Baker Ross, who are a significant existing employer in Harlow. We have seen a noticeable increase in occupier demand for our speculative warehouse units across the UK, which is why we have taken a proactive approach by commencing the speculative development of a new building on phase two. Icon Harlow is conveniently located just 30 miles north of London and the recent lettings are a testament to the strength of the location for distributors looking to service the London to Cambridge corridor.”
