About Us

The business as it stands today began in 1997 through the acquisition as a going concern of our Flagship Store and Head Office in the village of Tarleton, several miles south of Preston in Lancashire.

Following this, expansion came thick and fast. In 1999 the business took over the Parbold branch near Wigan.

In 2004, the company’s growth and success led it to being named as Britain’s Best Hardware Retailer. This accolade did not slow down the progress of the enterprise as in July 2005 the company took over the third store at The Carrington Centre in the nearby village of Eccleston near Chorley.

2005 also saw the company receive the Silver Award at the annual industry Britain’s Best Retail Awards ceremony.

The following year saw the unexpected relocation of the newest store in Eccleston to larger retail premises adjacent to the existing shop, creating a new bigger and better store. Do-It-Yourself Centre was again awarded the Silver Award at the 2006 Britain’s Best Retail Awards ceremony.

The three stores are geographically complementary, with minimal store overlap and follow a similar strategy in terms of store locations within busy shopping parades in expanding green site areas.

The product offering has been progressively extended and refined over the years as a number of opportunities have arisen to increase the selling areas at each branch. Our stock file currently includes over 20,000 lines stocked across the three stores. Additional services have been introduced such as in-store paint mixing of British Standard and Crown Paints colours and a while you wait key cutting service.

The running of the Company is undertaken by the Board of Directors, husband and wife team Edwin & Susan Miller and their daughter Jane Hardiker. Ten longstanding female staff, affectionately termed ‘The DIY Dollies’, are employed in both full-time and part-time positions.

The origins of Do-It-Yourself Centre are rather unusual in so much as, prior to the opening of the business in 1997, the founders Edwin & Susan had no experience in retail whatsoever. Edwin had been an arable farmer all his working life, while Susan helped on the farm but was a nurse by training. The move came when the couple, increasingly conscious of the continuing decline of the farming industry, decided on a change of tack.

Daughter Jane joined the board later in 2005 after completing a degree in Marketing Management from Lancaster University and she headed up the Eccleston store right up until the day before she gave birth to her son Joseph in April 2009.

Asked what has underpinned the group’s growth and success over the last fifteen years, Jane’s answer is short and to the point. “You get out what you put in.”
An enormous amount of sheer hard work has gone into the business, literarily blood sweat and tears, and luckily it has paid off. She continues “Fundamental to our continuing success has been the strong culture of customer service that has been in place since the first day of trading. Our staff are knowledgeable, courteous and self-motivated, which is something the larger businesses in this industry really struggle to replicate”.