Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection has today announced that former Post Master, Ian McIntosh and his wife Denise, have taken over the Chesterfield territory. The couple will now deliver Card Connection’s extensive range of quality greetings cards and accessories to more than 100 retailers around Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Rotherham and Chesterfield.

“We first discovered Card Connection as award-winning franchisee, Andy Thompson, supplied our North East based Post Office for around ten years,” explains Ian McIntosh. “We got on well and still play golf together! Andy explained how the franchise worked and we knew the cards sold really well so when a Post Office redundancy package became available we knew it was time to look at moving on.

“Eventually, we relocated to be closer to family and by coincidence, at the same time, another respected Card Connection franchisee, Paul Du Toit, was looking to sell part of his area and so we jumped at the chance!” continues Ian. “The Card Connection franchise has turned out to be the ideal fit. It is flexible enough to fit around family commitments and it makes a great change from being tied to a Post Office counter for the whole day!

“Training has been comprehensive,” confirms Ian. “As well as a thorough head office course, I have spent a month ‘on the road’ learning first-hand from the outgoing franchisee with help from my business development manager. My wife and I are really excited about the future and joining the successful Card Connection team.”

Card Connection franchisees supply greeting cards and accessories in retail outlets on a ‘consignment’ basis, also supplying the display equipment free on loan if appropriate, minimising the retailers’ costs and maximising their profits. This is one step beyond ‘sale or return’ as retail customers don’t have to buy the stock initially; they only pay for what they sell. Card Connection’s award winning merchandising service provided to retailers has proved popular all over the UK and Ireland, giving franchisees an advantage over competitors.

Card Connection is one of the UK’s largest card publishers and is the market leader in the franchised distribution of greeting cards. The business’ unique model of consignment sales has resulted in a strong brand and established reputation which has been proven over many years. Through its franchisees Card Connection supplies around 12,000 retailers throughout the UK.

Card Connection is part of UK Greetings, which is a subsidiary of American Greetings Inc., one of the largest greeting card publishers in the world and has limited vacancies for franchisees that are keen to run an expanding business. 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 £7k + Stock + Card Connection fee with earnings potential in excess of £50k per annum.