Barnsley business sharpens up to keep up with demand
A South Yorkshire business has expanded to keep up with worldwide demand for its tattoo and piercing products.
Barber of Sheffield has taken over a further 4,900 sq ft unit at its base in the Dearne Valley after getting support from Enterprising Barnsley. It has more than doubled turnover in the last three years to £15m, with the tattoo and piercing sector now accounting for 90% of its revenue.
The company, which started off making suture needles and scalpel blades for the medical sector, is now Europe’s leading distributor in the tattoo and piercing industry; and sells its veterinary and medical range of specialist needles around the world including to the US and Australia.
The company, which employs 43 people, had outgrown its 23,000 sq ft warehouse at Shortwood Business Park on the Dearne Valley Parkway, and needed more storage and office space. Operations director Damion Laycock said: “The business has grown phenomenally over the last few years and we got to a point where we literally couldn’t fit everyone in, so the support from Enterprising Barnsley to get funding was vital to our expansion plans.”
Enterprising Barnsley, which is the economic development arm of Barnsley Council, worked with the company to access a grant of more than £40,000 from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, Business Growth Programme, to fit out the new unit, install a mezzanine floor and purchase new racking.
Martin Beasley, of Enterprising Barnsley, said: “Barbers are a fantastic success story for the borough and we really want to do what we can do make them even more successful.”
Barber of Sheffield has more than 8,000 different products on its website which is translated into ten languages.
It also has a distribution facility in France which will support the company’s plans to increase market share across Europe and move into new territories.
