News

The Ink Shop is teeing off its expansion drive with the opening of its first franchised store.

The Scotland-based hub and spoke operation is working with franchise consultants to pursue its plan to ultimately cover all areas of the UK (PrintWeek, 12 October 2006). Its first franchise opened this month in

Stirling after being set up by graphic designer William Ball.

Ball said: “I was actually in The Ink Shop as a customer when I saw a poster advertising franchise opportunities. I started asking about it there and then and things have progressed from there.”

Ink Shop is working with The Franchise Group to realise a plan to open five more franchises within 12 months and ultimately another 50 in the next seven years, giving it enough stores to cover the whole of the UK by 2015.

“The difficult job for us now is finding the right franchisees who can maintain the high standards of customer service for which we’ve become known over the past 15 years,” said The Ink Shop founder and managing director Stuart Mason.