To be considered for these awards franchisors must have taken part in the Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark programme. This involves their franchisees being asked to complete a confidential online survey, rating their franchisor on qualities such as initial training, ongoing support, their relationship with the franchisor, and whether they would recommend the business to prospective new… Read more »

Card Connection’s range of Greeting cards play a big part in helping people to celebrate Christmas, but when the festivities are over, the company also wants to be able to celebrate their efforts in facilitating the recycling process of its products, too. “Sustainability is a key part of a company acting responsibly and we take… Read more »

Daryl Perkins our Nottingham franchisee and his partner Lucy have recently funded a local football team by purchasing their kit and instead of advertising their own business on these shirts, they insisted the Rainbows logo take full pride of place, which it’s hoped will help generate further donations for the charity. As Daryl explains, “We… Read more »

Theepan Sinnathurai purchased the Romford Card Connection territory back in November 2018. “Before I bought the Card Connection franchise, I ran an MRH forecourt site for 2 years. This was my first time involved in running a business as a licensee commission operator. It was a great introduction in managing a small retail shop and… Read more »

Imagine spending your days working in the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Lake District, the Scottish borders, the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Eden Valley…. Well Colin & Margaret Brattan do just that.Colin & Margaret purchased the Lake District territory from Bryan & Sheila Jones back in October 2020 after Colin had… Read more »

From Card Connection’s beginning in 1992, female franchisees have played a key role in the success of the greeting card franchisor’s brand. As women remain the primary purchasers of greetings cards, perhaps it’s not so surprising that female franchisees have an affinity with the product the company supplies.Around 8% of Card Connection’s franchisee territories are… Read more »

Scotland is the most attractive location in the UK outside of London for foreign direct investment (FDI) according to the 2020 EY attractiveness survey!My brother owns several retail outlets and was being supplied Card Connection greeting cards from the previous franchisee so when I heard that the franchise was available back in 2016, I thought… Read more »

In 2018 David and Sherran Patient sold their successful convenience store to a multiple chain and took a short but deserved career break. Then, in the 2019 the experienced husband and wife team took on a Card Collection franchise territory that straddles part of Essex and Suffolk. They took on this new and exciting challenge… Read more »

Like most companies going into the pandemic, Card Connection were facing the unknown. As in keeping with the response from the general public, businesses and organisations cross the land, it’s ultimately people that got us through. The whole Card Connection family comprising our network of franchisees, our head office staff, and our support infrastructure involving… Read more »

Card Connection have just been awarded a further 4 years re-accreditation by the bfa.  This means the business has proudly enjoyed continuous membership of this important trade organisation since joining the bfa way back in 1995.  Accreditation with the BFA is confirmation of the fact that a franchisor has been carefully and stringently scrutinised for… Read more »

Thanks to Government restrictions lifting, love is in the air once more as the shackles finally come off those cancelled and delayed wedding dates. Couples up and down the land are scrambling to tie the knot, no matter the time of day, or day of the week they can book!  Luckily Card Connection have just… Read more »

Seems even the Covid pandemic can’t stamp out our deep desire to have a nice roof over our heads! The housing market is now getting back to full swing again, both with purchases and rentals, with the summer being the most popular time for people to up sticks to a new property. A typical person… Read more »

Awards are given in recognition of positive achievements, and in some special cases they are inspired by those who went before. When one of its much-respected Irish franchisees passed away recently, greeting card publishers Card Connection wanted to honour his memory by creating a new award in his name. The Tony Lees Award for ‘Going… Read more »

Penny has worked in the Greeting Card Industry for 20 years and got the inside track on how Card Connection operated as a franchisor when she joined the company as a Regional Sales Manager in 2013. Impressed by this successful business model, she set a 5-year plan to own her own Card Connection franchise. In… Read more »

“We’re such proud winners and definitely over the moon” is the first reaction of owners David and Sherran Patient. With thirty-plus years as highly successful, multi-award winners in retail businesses, including their own convenience store. In the forecourt sector, they operated multiple high turnover Esso outlets as Licences and also varied retail site, area, and… Read more »

David and Helen Rabaiotti are Card Connection’s Franchisees of the Year 2021. It has been an amazing set of achievements that pushed them to the top award in the greeting card publisher’s franchise network. Having initially purchased the Bath area in 2010, they were soon thirsty for more. So, when the Newport territory in South… Read more »

A few words from our Scottish 2021 Regional Winner – Munawar Mohammed“Thank you for this award, I was surprised to receive it this year as my fellow Franchisees have all done extremely well in the last year. I would like to thank all the team at head office for their support through this challenging year…. Read more »

Kochchu is no stranger to hard work, having run a convenience store for 4 years with his wife Gemma, in addition to a chilled food delivery business which he owned for 7 years. However, nothing could quite prepair him for the last year, dominated by the challenges of the Covid pandemic. Many of the normal… Read more »

As part of our parent company UKG Greetings, Card Connection are proud to announce that all its single greeting cards will be offset through the global conservation charity World Land Trust’s Carbon Balanced Paper programme. By doing this, UK Greetings will fund the protection of 635 acres of threatened habitat in the Khe Nuoc Trong… Read more »

McGeown is no stranger to awards for being a top performer at Card Connection. As the franchisee for the whole of Northern Ireland he’s become accustomed to smashing sales records. However, over the last year, as Covid pushed sales of greeting card in essential stores through the roof, he’s had some seriously stiff competition from… Read more »

Recent impacts on the economy has made redundancy a cruel reality for many people. However, as one door closes, a new one can often open! Franchising can allow you to turn a negative experience into a positive one and to invest in a bright future.The increase in UK redundancy rates during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic… Read more »

What do Bournemouth, Stirling & Ayr all have in common? Give up? These franchise areas that are currently for a sale by greeting card franchisor Card Connection. All these territories grew between 21% right up to an amazing 60% during the last year. On top of seeing thriving new business gains over the past year,… Read more »

This temporary structure may remind us of the Nightingale hospitals that sprang up last year, but for the residents of Holt village near Wrexham, this ‘pop up’ Budgens store was in many ways a just as much of a lifesaver. “The Budgens that was the only store to serve the village was completely destroyed by… Read more »

With Covid restrictions beginning to relax and vaccine coverage increasing, there’s a real positive upswell in hope for the future. Easter has always celebrated the season of rebirth and nature renewing itself once more, as we move towards brighter days ahead! What better time to send some Easter cards and spread a little positivity to… Read more »

The very heart of Scotland could all be yours if you have the ambition and drive to invest in Card Connection’s Stirling franchise. You’ll be taking over an established business with many prestige customers including Spar, BP Simply Fresh, Bestway, Nisa, KeyStore and a host of Independent stores. The franchise area includes Edinburgh, Dundee, Stirling… Read more »

That was the challenge facing Thayalan Markandu, Card Connection’s franchisee for Middlesbrough, when through no fault of his own he lost a chain of his most lucrative stores. A relative newcomer to the greeting card franchise network, he took this early blow to his business firmly on the chin. “As an ex-retailer myself, I knew… Read more »

Offered for sale is the thriving Card Connection franchise territory of Oldham. Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock. It has a population of 230,800.Boasting a current turnover of over of £83k, and currently growing at 11%, despite the pandemic, this territory has an attractive… Read more »

  Valentine’s Day has long been an important chance to exchange cards, with the first ones being sent in the 18th century. Initially handmade, as pre-made cards were not yet available, lovers would decorate paper with romantic symbols, including flowers, love knots and lines of heartfelt poetry. Card Connection are proud to continue this loving… Read more »

Were all painfully aware of the difficulties many sectors of the economy have suffered during the Covid pandemic, but there are some examples of companies who have still thrived.  One such is greeting card publisher, Card Connection, who saw an 8.7% increase to their sales in 2020. Managing Director Michael Johnson explains this phenomenon. “As… Read more »