How it all began
2013
A budding business.
Sales were steadily growing and Becky decided that she needed to store the stock elsewhere as her bedroom was filled to the rafters with mixing bowls and teapots.
After a quick Google search she stumbled accross a unit for rent in a disused school in Penwortham, Preston. Despite being incredibly creepy, the space was fantastic and enabled the business to flourish. The first two official Silver Mushroom employees were hired, David and William.
2014
A family affair.
The business continued to grow and in turn so did Becky's work load. Over a Sunday roast, Becky and her younger sister Emmie decided to join forces to expand the business further.
After studying Interior Design at university, Emmie brought with her a passion for homeware and the sisters expanded Silver Mushroom's range from the kitchen to homeware.
2019
Expansion in more ways than one.
We quickly outgrew our new premises and made the move from the office space to our own Silver Mushroom warehouse. Ready for the next chapter, we got to work. However, Becky had other plans...
Becky gave birth to Charlotte shortly after moving to our new premises, navigating the challenges of not only entrepreneurship, but now parenthood as well. Luckily Charlotte loved to play in the office and Becky was fantastic at multitasking. Our team of five rolled up their sleeves and took it in turns to babysit, answer the phones and pack the orders.
2019
The big screen.
We launched our biggest ever marketing campaign, our own Silver Mushroom TV advert that aired on ITVbe.
This was a dream come true and a truly memorable experience.
"Fill your home with things you love, with help from Silver Mushroom."
2020
Lockdown.
The year the world changed for everyone. Overnight, our sales increased by over 1000%. We were not prepared for this level of growth. Our small team of five turned into 35 and we packed orders around the clock, 7 days a week.
We still couldn't keep up.
2021
Crunch time.
After the most stressful year both personally and professionally, we realised we couldn't cope any longer. We handed over our precious stock to a fulfilment centre to handle the operational side of Silver Mushroom, picking and packing our orders, storing the stock and so on.
We had hoped to feel the benefits instantly, have time to rest, expand our range and rebuild our incredibly disheveled post-pandemic business.
But something didn't feel quite right.
The fulfilment centre we had chosen hadn't been totally honest in their experience of fragile goods, amongst other things. We saw more broken mixing bowls, incorrectly packed orders and careless mistakes than we ever thought imaginable.
We faced a grim decision; find a way to bring our operation back in house, or close Silver Mushroom for good.
2022
New beginnings.
Having dedicated the last 11 years to building our business, we were determined to give it our all to give Silver Mushroom one last chance.
We took the plunge and signed the lease on a 10,000sq foot warehouse, hired an experienced warehouse team and opened our second business, CK Fulfilment.
We began to run a successful operational business, not only for Silver Mushroom but for other small businesses who had experienced the same difficulties as us.
It was the best decision we have ever made!