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On Location... with Mint Group
In Mint
Condition
Above left: (right-left) Alan and Debbie Williams, Sophie Bylina and Tom Williams in the new showroom. Above: M&G’s licensing agreement with the V&A spans a variety of products, from greeting cards to glass paperweights. Left: The new Wildlife Photographer of the Year range from Museums & Galleries, which features the company’s Eco-band. Below left: One of the six impressive vehicles that are used for picking orders in the new 43,000 sq headquarters and warehouse in Corby. Below: A design from Real & Exciting Design’s new Voila range.
When Debbie Williams took on what was intended to be a temporary book-keeping job with a little known card company at the start of the noughties, little did she know that it would lead to picking up the keys to a 43,000 sq ft premises that is now home to one of the UK’s leading independentlyowned greeting card publishing groups. It all started in 2006 with Debbie and her husband Alan (then still a farmer) buying Mint, then in 2014 came the acquisition of Museums & Galleries, followed a year later with Real & Exciting Designs joining the fold. These acquisitions saw the group take on more and more space, expanding into six units on a Kettering trading estate, but the 28,000 sq ft capacity was just not enough to accommodate the inherent growth, and so a move was on the cards. With a perfect solution sourced for a move into a new home in nearby Corby, all was looking good, then the pandemic struck! “We did start moving in back in July 2020, but had to work from two sites for a while to allow for social 32
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
It would take more than a pandemic to deter the Mint Group from fulfilling its dream of relocating to a state of the art headquarters and central warehouse. Now fully ensconced in its 43,000 sq ft new home, PG hotfooted it to Corby to catch up with the family-run business which comprises Museums & Galleries, Mint Publishing and Real & Exciting Designs.
distancing,” explains Debbie. “In the first year we despatched Christmas from here in Corby and everyday from our old premises. It wasn’t easy, but it had to be done,” adds Alan. Adding to the complexities, general manager (and Debbie’s son) Tom Williams was determined to install state of the art highline picking lines to accommodate the group’s 4,500 skus across its brands, which has seen some hefty investment in impressive kit, including six ‘wave’ machines which pickers can manoeuvre with great agility as well as a grid system for a top end forklift to move palettes. And on top of this, Museums & Galleries studio
