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Historical Perspective
Golden Ticket To Print History
Some may hold with the view that ’50 is the new 40’, but Sheffield-based greeting card printer Loxleys can do much better than that, going all out to make sure the company’s 166th birthday this month is a celebration shared with the entire industry - through an all-encompassing Golden Ticket giveaway, promising a stream of prizes galore to publishers, retailers and suppliers. PG goes back in time, tracking the company’s history as well as the evolution of greeting card printing. “While ‘Happy 166th Birthday’ is not a caption that features on the millions of greeting cards we produce for our greeting card publisher customers, it is a big deal for us and something worth marking,” states Loxleys’ ceo Richard Bacon. Wednesday 14 October 2020 is Loxleys’ actual 166th birthday, with the ensuing years having seen it grow from
humble beginnings to the northern printing powerhouse it is today. No stranger to hard times, in the space of its 166 years, the specialist printer has endured two World Wars, two factory fires and many, many industry changes. Amazingly, the company can trace its origins back to Saturday 14 October 1854 the exact day when two brothers, William and
Marking the milestone “We had big plans to celebrate our wonderful heritage this year with a big party for customers, employees and industry friends, but unfortunately the virus and the rules associated with it scuppered these, so we came up with the idea of a Willie Wonka Birthday Giveaway that is open to everyone in the industry,” explained Alice Buck, the company’s marketing co-ordinator. For the whole of October the company is encouraging all publishers (whether Loxleys customers or not), retailers and trade suppliers to enter a Willie Wonka style raffle giveaway (with contact name, business name, address and telephone and email address), via the company’s posts on Instagram and LinkedIn or by contacting Ms Willie Wonka aka Alice by email (alice.buck@loxleys.co.uk) who will then register them against a raffle ticket number. “We’d love everyone to get involved. This isn’t just open to our customers but everyone with prizes varying from fancy champagne to a voucher, money off a print order with us as well as lots of other secret treats,” added Alice. 78
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Above: The original Loxley Brothers shop in Sheffield. Below left: Printing techniques have changed massively over Loxleys’ 166-year history, from letterpress to digital. Below right: Everyone has a chance to participate in Loxleys’ Birthday Giveaway.
Edward Loxley - said to be descendants of Robert de Lockesley (better known as Robin Hood!) - opened a stationers and printers, located at No.19 Fargate, in the busy bustle of Sheffield City Centre. Known then as The Loxleys Brothers, the company set itself apart from the competition at the time by targeting the commercial community, unlike their competitors who focused efforts on traditional forms of print including newspapers. In 1921, due to continued growth, the printing arm of the business was transferred to a larger premises. Originally built as an