Chesterfield shop shuts as Dragons’ Den star takes over company
British Broadcasting CorporationA Derbyshire craft center has closed after the company founded by Dragons’ Den star Sarah Davies went into administration.
The Crafter’s Companion store in Barlborough, near Chesterfield, was closed by administrators on January 7, with the loss of 10 jobs, but the Evesham base in Worcestershire remains open.
The company was founded by Ms Davies in 2005 while at university.
She said she later sold most of her shares but bought it from administrators on Jan. 7 and became a major shareholder again.
She said: “Redundancies are never easy and I understand why this can be a shock to staff, but it is unavoidable.”
The entrepreneur said: “The decision to close the loss-making Chesterfield store was taken by the administrators in preparation for the sale of the business to us.”
“The actual closure occurred after we acquired the business,” she added.
Ms Davies said the store “had not been profitable for a significant period of time and it could not continue to be part of the Crafter’s Companion family”.
GoogleThe company sells crafts and has its headquarters and warehouse in County Durham, a store in Evesham and a former store in Chesterfield.
She said: “I’m proud that we’ve saved over a hundred jobs in the north but I’m very sad that these colleagues have to leave the family.”
Ms Davies added that as the business had been rescued from government hands, more than a hundred jobs had been saved, “ensure we focus our efforts” on the remaining stores and website “to ensure the future success of Crafter’s Companion” Very important.
She added: “I have reinvested my own capital into the business and, together with a new financial partner who has also invested, I am now a major shareholder again.”
Ms Davies became the youngest female Dragon ever to join BBC One’s Dragons’ Den and was awarded an MBE in 2016 for her services to the economy.
She received an honorary degree from York University in 2024 in recognition of her “outstanding contribution to society.”
Crafter’s Companion Limited’s accounts for the 2024 financial year were overdue before the company went into administration.
The latest submitted accounts show that its revenue fell by 21% from £37.8 million in 2022 to £29.9 million in the 2023 financial year.
