Glamping business expands through e-commerce acquisition

West Yorkshire-based events business, North Sky Yurts, has acquired glamping and festival accessories retailer, The Bell Tent Shop, which it bought it first batch of bell tents from back in 2021.

North Sky Yurts was founded by Becca McClure and Charlotte Paine during the pandemic lockdown.

They expanded their venture by acquiring another Yorkshire-based glamping business in April 2021 and have enjoyed three successful years, tripling their business’s revenue.

They now have a large storage unit with a permanent member of staff to support the seasonal team who return each summer.

Explaining the latest acquisition, McClure said: “This was a very serendipitous moment as we’d been looking at ways to assist with our year round cashflow and diversify into other revenue streams when this landed in our laps.

“We were really confident in acquiring The Bell Tent Shop as we purchased our first 35 tents from them in 2021 and have admired the quality of the tents that we still use four years on; despite the industry norm being for tents to fail after one season.”

The acquired e-commerce business will be selling bell tents and camping accessories to both trade partners and everyday campers and festival goers. 

McClure added: “It’s an exciting next step for our business and we’re excited to venture into the world of e-commerce as it’s totally different to the events industry that we currently work in.

“We are currently re-branding The Bell Tent Shop to bring it more in line with our North Sky Yurts values of being eco-conscious and bringing the same top tier customer service to this brand as we do our other one.

“We have been lucky to onboard another founder, Bridie Wallis, who shares the same values and is also committed to growing this business in a sustainable way.”