“True maverick” retail tycoon dies at 88
The founder of £81m-turnover shoe business Pavers has died aged 88.
Catherine Kinloch Paver, known as Cathy, was described as a “true maverick” in a statement from the company.
She launched York-based Pavers in 1971 with a £200 loan. The company now turns over £81.7m, has pre-tax profits of £10.7m and employs 2,000 people.
Born in May 1928, she was one of five children brought up in Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland. After her parents began struggling to pay for her to continue school, she moved to York in 1943 to find work.
There, her first job was at a military hospital helping wounded Second World War soldiers.
She later moved into retail taking on a role with Boots the Chemist. It was around this time she met and subsequently married her husband of 51 years, Michael Paver.
It was a rocky start for Mrs Paver in the early 1970s. Her original business loan was rejected, but she successfully reapplied for the same amount to purchase a ‘sofa’ only two weeks later.
The shoe business quickly grew from selling from people’s living rooms and out-of-town retailing the company opened its first high street shop in Scarborough in 1982 followed by openings in York, Hull and Newcastle.
The business continued to expand and it opened overseas. Its Pavers England brand is based in Dubai and operates retail locations throughout the Middle East, India, and Sri Lanka.
After 50 years in business, Mrs Paver was recognised alongside James Dyson, Vivienne Westwood, and Victoria Beckham in Management Today’s Top 100 Entrepreneurs in 2015, and again in 2016.
She was described as “an outstanding woman of substance who oozed charisma, drive, determination and passion for an industry she loved.”
A statement from the company said: “We will sorely miss Cathy’s wisdom, guile, and ferocious intelligence. However, despite footwear being in her DNA, her first love, and the one she treasured above all other, was for her family. A devoted mother to her three sons, all of whom later joined her in the business, and as a grandmother, and great-grandmother, she considered this element of her life probably her finest work, and in which her spirit will undoubtedly live on.
“Illness and pain never diminished her love for shoes and she was brightest in her last few days when discussing buys for Autumn/Winter ’17. She also reminded us how proud she was of her stores and people and how she would be watching to ensure we all continued her legacy in the future.
“She spent the last couple of weeks surrounded by family, friends and colleagues enjoying every last moment of a long and well lived life.
“RIP Cathy, you were the shoe world’s original woman of substance – your legacy will live on with us forever.”
