The Story So Far…

The Shufflebotham Brothers

Matthew, Simion and Thomas became involved in this area nearly a hundred years ago. The brothers had a talent for business that saw them open a clayfield and brickworks, a pottery, a mill and factory shop, and also dabble in the property market.

Matthew

Matthew set up on his own in 1926 on the present Gunco Lane site. He had a number of horses and carts which he rented out to the local ”tatters”, rag and bone men who would use the carts to carry fruit and vegetables to Buxton and return with scrap metal, which Matthew would buy from them, and so, became a licensed scrap metal dealer.

Arthur

Arthur took over the business from his father shortly before the Second World War and gradually began to diversify. He visited local mills buying up cloth cuttings, sorting and grading them, and sending them to Yorkshire to be remade into new fabrics.

Roger and Joyce

Roger joined the business in 1962 followed later by his wife Joyce, again things began to take a new direction. Arthur and Roger began to save the remnant pieces amongst the waste and soon started to buy surplus fabrics and remnants from the mills. They sold these on to market men and other traders until, in 1995, they decided to open to the public for just one day a week. This proved a great success. New warehouses were erected, opening hours were extended and the business continued to grow. Joyce continues to work behind the scenes and takes care of the bookkeeping, whilst you can still find Roger in the shop each day.

Clare and James

Clare arrived in 2000 giving up a career in Molecular Biology to rediscover her family’s roots in the fabric trade. In 2005 James left his job in Optometry to join his wife and together they have been a powerful team diversifying still further and taking the company to a new level.