Loaf is a British company, which operates as a high street

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

er. Charlie Marshall founded the

brand, which was formerly known as The Sleep Room. Their showrooms are mainly focused around the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

area. It is currently one of the fastest growing

companies in the

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. In 2013, it listed on the

Sunday Times Fast Track 100 The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 was an annual league table published in association with ''The Sunday Times'' newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain's 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over the last three years. It is published ...

, and has also received investment from the Monsoon & Accessorize founder, Peter Simon. In May 2017 the company opened its third showroom in

Spitalfields Spitalfields () is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and situated in the East End of London, East End. Spitalfields is formed around Commercial Street, London, Commercial Stre ...

, London.

History

Charlie Marshall founded The Sleep Room in 2008, after previously owning and selling another business. Marshall generated the

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...

capital for The Sleep Room from the sale of his previous company, Primal Soup and personal finance he had accrued from

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

. The amount invested initially was £350,000. During the early days, Marshall focused on bed sales, providing 12 different styles of bed, with a single mattress type. It was stated that Marshall visited over 187 mattress and bed factories before deciding on the mattress he would sell through The Sleep Room. In 2012, it was announced that the company would be rebranded, and would now operate under the name Loaf. The rebrand followed the expansion of the company's product range away from beds and sleep related products.

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covered the launch of their sofas and armchairs, while also announcing the company would be selling

lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...

rugs A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of Pile (textile), pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fiber, synthetic fibres such as polyprop ...

and

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

s. During the next year, it was announced that the company would expand to selling kitchen furniture. Loaf was listed on the

in 2013. They were in 40th position overall, and the 3rd fastest growing

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

in the

. The company's growth continued in 2014 and they again featured in the 2014

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

list. This time Loaf were in 52nd position, with their

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rising from £7.8 million to £15.9 million over the 12-month period. In early 2014, it was announced that the Monsoon & Accessorize founder had acquired a substantial stake in the

business. By the end of 2014, the company had reached a turnover of £20 million. In July 2020, Loaf and cosmetics manufacturer Neal's Yard Remedies will have a new home for their internet activities, in the current UK facility of third-party distribution supplier Wincanton.

Locations

In 2014, the founder was quoted in an interview that new showrooms would be referred to as Loaf Shacks’''. Following the investment from Monsoon & Accessorize founder, it was stated that the company would be looking to open 10 new stores over a period of 4 years, predominantly in the

area. In October 2014, it was announced that the first of these stores would soon be opening in the area of

. In June 2015, it was announced that a location had been chosen for the Loaf Shack’'', which would be located in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

References

{{reflist Companies based in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Retail companies established in 2008 Retail companies of the United Kingdom