Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection, has today announced its franchisee for Leeds, Brian Spilman, has extended his territory to include Burnley, Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool.

This major expansion, which effectively doubles the size of his franchise region, now sees Brian Spilman and his team supplying Card Connection’s extensive range of quality greeting cards and gifts to 270 stores in the North West.

Card Connection’s franchisees hand pick and deliver greeting cards from a range of 1,500 innovative designs including: Santé, humour, handmade and special occasions cards. Using a proven system, franchisees place greeting card ranges in retail outlets on a ‘consignment’ basis. The award winning merchandising service provided to retailers by local franchisees is second to none and has established the company’s excellent reputation especially within the convenience sector.

“I have been a Card Connection franchisee for six years,” confirms Brian Spilman. “Thanks to the clever business model, during that time, I have been able to grow my franchise steadily and I now work with two full time employees. However, the exciting addition of the new territory has been the next ‘step-up’ for my business, allowing me to take advantages of economies of scale created by running a larger operation.

“The new region is made up of a mix of densely populated town and rural geography, and is occupied by both independent stores and large national retail accounts,” continues Spilman. “Yet there is still plenty of scope for development and a significant part of my focus for the next year is securing more retail customers. I am also aiming to recruit a third part time person and am looking at new premises.

“Card Connection has been particularly supportive in my latest venture,” explains Spilman. “The head office team are great to deal with, always open, honest and really professional. I also rate my franchise manager who I have worked closely with over the years: he is ever on hand to provide help and advice when needed.”

Michael Johnson, managing director at Card Connection said: “We are delighted that Brian has expanded his territory and aim to provide all the help and support he needs to realise the huge potential of his increased franchise area.”

Card Connection is part of UK Greetings, which is a subsidiary of the largest publicly owned greeting card publisher in the world and has limited vacancies for franchisees who are keen to run an expanding business. Suitable candidates would ideally have some management experience as, once established, and depending on the size of the territory, they could be expected to employ a small team, operate a small warehouse and have several liveried vans on the road.

Since the franchise network in the UK is complete, the available opportunities now consist of acquiring an already-established territory from an existing franchisee. These vary in price according to their level of development, but start at £20k (+stock) with earnings potential in excess of £50k per annum.