A DERBY company – Cosy Direct – which sells ethical educational outdoor play equipment to schools and nurseries is looking forward to opening an exciting new chapter as it prepares to move to a brand-new £2m warehouse on the outskirts of the county.
Cosy will leave its beloved current premises, The Chocolate Factory, in Siddals Road – its home for the past five years – for a 45,000-square foot, specially adapted building set in two acres of land on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border near Tutbury.
The new building, which will be called the Crater’ Edge and will double the company’s current capacity,
The move will also support Cosy, which last year posted an £8.4m turnover, as it sets out on an ambitious programme to grow by a further 50%, increase its export operation six-fold and increase its product range and supply network, which is made up predominantly of small local companies.
Its former home, meanwhile, will be taken over by Bustler’s Market, Derby’s popular monthly indoor street food venue.
Cosy Direct employs 80 people and was set up in 2011 by Peter and Amanda Ellse, who wanted to establish an educational supplies company that was built along environmental & ethical lines, in order to promote a healthier learning culture for young children aged between 0 and eight-years-old, inspired by their own children
Cosy now supplies schools, LEAs and nurseries across the UK with items including climbing frames, reading shelters and wooden counting blocks.
It prides itself on its sustainable approach to business, with 87% of its products arriving by road, the majority of which is uk made in order to reduce air miles and its emphasis on reusing and reinventing end-of-life products such as rubber tyres, by transforming them into mirrors, grass-covered seating or whiteboard circles and physical development equipment.
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Mr Ellse said: “The Chocolate Factory has served us extremely well and it will be a wrench to leave the city but we’re excited about Crater’s Edge because it has double the capacity and will allow us to showcase what we are really about in a rural environment.
“The move will also support our ambitious plans to grow our business, which have already started in earnest this year and will see us increase our operations levels, grow our export channels, add more depth to our board and grow our social media teams.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time, but although we are leaving Derby in body, we are committed to ‘stay Derby’ in spirit, by continuing to back charitable and community causes that are important to us as well as leaving a Cosy products behind in the Chocolate Factory for Bustler’s children’s area, as part of a lasting legacy.”
Cosy allocates 10% of its profits every year with charities and community initiatives in Derby and abroad, including Derby Kids Camp, Derby Book Festival and the YMCA, as well as sponsoring five city children’s sports teams.
Further afield, it has funded sports coaching in The Gambia and sponsored students in order to pay for their education in Kenya.
They are known for their innovation and invention creating over 500 ideas a year from teacher’s ideas, amongst the largest creator of teacher’s ideas worldwide in the early childhood segment
For more information visit www.cosydirect.com
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