Did you know that J. Parker's is a family-owned and run business? Did you also know that come April, we’ll have been up and running for 90 years? To celebrate, we’ve decided to share our legacy with our lovely readers!

It’s been a long journey since our inception in 1933, and it’s time for the story of J. Parker’s to be told.

It all started in Manchester...

In 1933, the height of the Great Depression, Martin Parker moved his family from Beverwijk, Holland to Manchester, England. The plan? Start a new and exciting venture. His idea? A wholesale mail-order bulb business!

Coming from generations of bulb growers and exporters, Martin knew his stuff and was excited to provide his customers with top-quality products. In those early days, the business was run from a small, terraced house on Chester Road in Manchester. This was where Martin and his wife, Joan, would package products – or more specifically, from their shed.

This small-scale operation ran throughout the late 1930s, all the way through World War II. 

The gardening boom

Image: wholesale catalogue, circa 1939. 


The business steadily grew, becoming more and more successful year after year.Then the 1950s came and brought an unexpected gardening boom with it. This encouraged Martin to expand the company – buying some farmland in Anwick, Lincolnshire. They then used this farmland to grow their very own bulbs!

Martin’s son, Chris, joined the business, and soon enough the retail branch of the business was created, too.

Britain's first postal strike

After several decades of profitable trading, J. Parker’s experienced its first unforeseen ‘bump in the road’. In 1971, Britain’s first postal strike began. It lasted 7 long weeks, affecting businesses across the country – large and small. The issue? We had invested over a million pounds (in today’s money) in catalogues, all of which went undelivered.

Unfortunately, the strike put the business in a vulnerable position, forcing Martin to sell off acres of land in Anwick and even our full mailing list just to keep the doors open.

J. Parker's revival

In the early ‘70s, Chris took charge of the retail business. A few years later, he took on the wholesale side too. In fact, the wholesale business was booming, thanks to strategic reader offers. If you’re a regular newspaper reader, then you might have seen our offers!

These reader offers included bargains and price comparisons against competitors. This was a controversial move back in the day and made quite a stir in the horticulture industry. The late 60s and early 70s also saw a change in our retail catalogues, which grew from a small read into a fully-fledged shopping catalogue.

Image: retail catalogue scans from a 1967 edition.


Our new headquarters

The business continued to grow, and it was decided to find a new headquarters. J. Parker’s settled down on Hadfield Street in Manchester – which is our home to this day. In fact, the ‘80s saw a complete switch up: Our Manchester warehouse became the dispatch space for retail orders, and wholesale orders started being dispatched from the Anwick warehouse.

Martin helped run the Anwick warehouse into his old age. This gave him the opportunity to greet and get to know his customers in the Anwick garden centre – which he loved. Early 1992 saw the approval of a long-awaited expansion at the Lincolnshire site, which was put forward in 1990 but had been denied four times.



This helped us expand the grounds and build a house for a site manager to reside in. At this point, Martin was 80 and was quoted by a local newspaper saying “I will only retire when I have to through health problems. I love the job and all my people have died with their boots on.”

The next generation

Chris’s sons, Paul and Daniel, began doing odd jobs around the Manchester warehouse in their early teens during the school holidays, like cleaning and counting bulbs. After a few years at university studying business, Paul Parker officially joined in 1998. Soon after, Daniel followed suit, becoming the Flixton garden centre manager.

In 2016, Paul became Managing Director at J. Parker’s, until last year when he was made CEO. His father, Chris, remains the company Chairman and still works dedicatedly on the wholesale side of the business.

Image: from left to right: Chris Parker and his son, Paul Parker.

Present day Parker’s

Fast forward to the present day! J. Parker’s is a booming business, and we continue to grow year after year. In 2021, we fulfilled our 5-year growth goal in just 12 months. Behind the scenes, we’re always thinking of new and exciting ways to expand and grow – so keep an eye out for what we get up to!

Want to learn more about J. Parker's? There's certainly more to the story! Visit our 'About Us' page on our website to continue your delve into our history.