36 Harrogate’s finest Lynn Cummings, Shop Manager of Jespers of Harrogate talks about the establishment’s unrivalled selection of fine writing pens, stationery, art materials and gifts Tell us a bit about Jespers of Harrogate. The company was founded by Foster Barrett Jesper in 1901, not as pen retailer/ stationer but, perhaps surprisingly, as a hand-engraving service. They occupied a small workshop on the second floor of a premises over the road from what was to become the famed Betty’s Tearooms which itself opened a little later in 1919. Jespers clearly built a reputation for quality receiving work from some of the country’s top sporting and business organisations and were even commissioned by the Royal Family. In 2019, 118 years after founding the business, the Jesper family decided to retire and hand over to someone who would develop and future-proof it for many years to come. Five generations of Jespers had served the community – Foster Barrett, Dennis, Charles and then Peter. With such a wonderful history in the town, both the family and the business received a huge show of support and thanks from Harrogate residents. It still, proudly, carries the name Jespers but with new owners in the Morris and Vickers families. In the four years since we’ve taken over, we’ve continued to appeal to the loyal Jespers customers by retaining ranges of fine writing instruments, stationery, gifts, and arts and crafts. We’ve also put our own stamp on the business and expanded the appeal to a wider audience, introducing a variety of new products sourced from other family businesses of long heritage. When did your e-commerce shop open and what was the reason for opening online? Our website has been going for several years now and has a selection of our products on this from fine writing instruments, arts and crafts to office furniture and fragrances. The reason for starting the website was to appeal to a wider target audience and so that customers further afield could enjoy the products that Jespers had to offer. We get orders from all over the UK and
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