About us / History
Who are we?
Hylands are your local, independent, family run electrical appliance retailer. First established back in 1938 by Mr Henry Hyland we have over 80 years experience in the industry and through 4 generations we are ever evolving and adapting to our customers needs. Over the years we have gone from stength to strength by always providing an amazing level of service and expertise you struggle to get nowadays from other retailers, that, coupled with great prices from all the leading brands is what keeps our customers coming back time and time again.
Where are we?
Based in Stoke-On-Trent, our Longton branch carry's a large range of kitchen appliances and home entertainment displayed over 3 sales floors, many people just see a small shop from the exterior but soon realise once inside that downstairs is the tip of the iceberg. With stock ready for immediate collection or delivery from our nearby warehouse in Fenton, you'll be sure to find something suitable.
We also have a branch in Stone which is a lovely old market town offering a variety of individual shops, the very popular 'Farmers market' held on the first Saturday of every month add to the relaxed feel of the town. We can be found at the top of the High Street on the corner, this branch has no steps so very wheelchair accessible. Why not pop in to see our vast range of home appliances and get hands on with the latest products and our expert team will be able to assist you.
We offer supply only or a comprehensive installation service for freestanding and built in appliances, this includes Gas & Electric appliances plus TV wall mounting service.
What's Euronics?
Being memebers of euronics (Europes largest electrical buying group) which is made up of lots of different independant retailers like ourselves, we have access to a huge range of products at great prices by buying in bigger quantitys direct from the manufactuers.
Why shop anywhere else?
We pride ourselves on the reputation and aftersales service we have built up over the years and we really do go that extra mile when it comes to our customers - we have hundreds of reviews online that would agree! So next time you need a home appliance choose to shop locally and support your local community with Hylands!
History
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Mr Henry Hyland Established Hylands in 1938 |
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Our first shop was on Merrial Street, Newcastle Under Lyme, (sadly we don't know where or the exact date), but with the coming of the War the Merrial Street store was relocated to 786/788 Uttoxeter Road, Meir, Stoke on Trent and a bank account was opened with District Bank (Later became part of Nat West) who were next door, this is the first bank book |
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1950's The Service Department was above the shop in those days. Alongside electrical appliances we also sold prams - toys - air rifles - records - cycles and even motorcycles. |
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| 1950's Bedford delivery van it had a canvas roof to reduce cost and as a passenger seat was an optional extra at the time Peter Hyland remembers sitting on a wooden crate next to the driver. |
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| 1950's appliances inside our shop. |
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| To show off the latest black and white television sets we had a dedicated TV showroom above the shop. |
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| This is an advert for an event we held in February of 1952 Peter Hyland (who took over the business from his father in 1969) remembers running around the hall as a young boy. |
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Here is an old invoice for a Gresham Flyer Tricycle purchased from us in 1953 by Mr Withington (For his son who kindly sent this in for us to use)
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LTD
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We became a Limited company on 16th Oct 1956. |
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1966 Morris J2 Delivery Van - Note our name had changed from 'Hylands Radio Service' to 'Hylands of Meir Ltd' by this time. |
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Meir 1970 - Hylands is on the left of the picture with the old Broadway cinema straight ahead (We have a family connection to the former Broadway cinema also) |
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1977 we relocated to 71/73 Weston Road, Meir to avoid the planned A50 expansion as the old store was expected to be demolished for this highway. The A50 expansion eventually happened some 20 years later in 1997 but instead of knocking the row of shops down it went under Meir via a tunnel. We remained trading in Meir until 9th June 2018. |
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1980 our Stone Store opened - previously a butcher's shop it housed our first warehouse in the old slaughter house behind (now part of the showroom) |
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Also with the opening of our Stone branch as "Hylands of Meir" was a very specific name we became known as just "Hylands" and soon after our Logo was changed too. |
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1986 saw the opening of our Longton branch (not a good photo, the shop is on the left with shutters down, not sure what it was taken for but it's the only one we have from this time) Previously Harold Bowens Photographers shop & before that a ladies dress shop called Elizabeth, sadly we don't know what it was before but its a facinating old building part of a row called Boardman buildings |
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1986 also saw our warehousing move to the Whitebridge Industrial Estate & our Stone store was extended into our old warehouse behind. |
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1990 our Service Dept moved from over our Meir branch to a unit on the Whitebridge Industrial Estate & our Head office then expanded into the old workshop above the shop. |
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26th June 1992 - We joined and became shareholders of the Combined Independent Holdings buying group - better know as Euronics |
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1994 The commercial arm of our business was formed for business and trade customers. (Photo of the commercial team taken in 2003 while based above our Meir branch, taken for our first website) |
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2001 - The first Panasonic flat panel 42" Plasma TV in stock. It had separate speakers and a separate analogue tuner in a large box which sat underneath - Priced at a cool £7,999.99 |
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Easter 2003, our first basic website started to be built, none transactional it grew and served us well showing over 1300 products until it was retired some 13 years later. |
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2004 we relocated from the Whitebridge industrial estate into our own vast warehouse. To get an idea of size - note the blue personnel door. |
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2005 we opened our new purpose built Service Department in Fenton. |
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Our workshop was rated "the best" independant service dept in the whole of the UK by Panasonic |
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2006 We moved our offices from over our Meir branch to a new purpose built office & opened a new first floor showroom over our Meir branch the following year |
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May 2010 - 3D TV was the big talking point and just like in the 1950s it was being demonstrated to a new generation of customers in a new first floor showroom above our Meir branch. |
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Jan 2011 - BBC TVs "DIY SOS" program came to the aid of a family in Bright Street Meir, we did our bit to help
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Sunday Trading our Longton branch started opening Sundays 6th March 2011.
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| However it never lived up to expectations and was a very quiet day for us so when the member of staff left who liked working Sundays in return for Friday & Saturday off it made sense to end it keeping staffing levels up in the busier week - the last Sunday was 22nd Sept 2019 |
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July 2012 The next generation of our family finished high school and joined the family Company becoming our "4th" Generation. His great grandfather would have been very proud. |
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2012 We took control of Hanley Panasonic store as Panasonic were expanding into white goods (Washing machines, Tumble dryers, Fridge Freezers etc with plans for built in appliances to follow) this was an ideal fit at this time - sadly in 2017 Panasonic anounced white goods were being dropped and as just a TV store it became unviable in the city centre so we made the business decision to close the store in 2018 |
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| 2013 ongoing improvements at all sites. |
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| 2014 saw a new clean fresh logo |
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www.HylandsElectrical.co.uk |
| August 2016 Our new responsive website launched - transactional with Sagepay & Paypal plus mobile friendly, this continues to grow as the proclaimed future of retail however we still offer the personal service you only find with a local family firm whether you are shopping instore or online with us. |
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| March 2020 another new updated logo |
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| 2020 - 2021 Building works saw a new roof on our Longton & Stone stores, followed by a new roof on our warehouse - they were getting old and had been leaking for some time so we invested in sorting the problems once and for all at considerable cost but we can sleep easier at night now |
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Today.. We are very proud of our history & our reputation for value with great customer service, we contunue to evolve and change as the world around us does - so don't be shy - give us a try - support the High Street and let us show you what a good local firm can offer.
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