 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Founders |
|
| Defunct | December 2008 |
| Headquarters | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Products | Furniture |
| Parent | victoriaplum.com |
MFI Group Limited was a British furniture retailer, operating under the MFI brand. The company was one of the largest suppliers of kitchens and bedroom furniture in the United Kingdom, and operated mainly in retail parks in out of town locations. Anecdotally, it was said at one stage that one in three Sunday lunches in the United Kingdom were cooked in a kitchen from MFI, and 60% of British children were conceived in a bedroom from MFI.[1]
After success in its early decades, it experienced recurring financial problems accompanied by several changes of ownership, and on 26 November 2008, it was announced that the business had been placed into administration.[2] Merchant Equity Partners, headed by Henry Jackson, was the last company to own it, before it was sold to the management in September 2008 for a "small profit".[3]
The business ceased trading by 19 December 2008, after the administrators failed to find a buyer.[4]
It struggled to make profits during the 2000s, as chains such as B&Q and Argos introduced their own furniture lines, and rival chain IKEA (who arrived in the United Kingdom in the second half of the 1980s) expanded. Following its closure, the MFI brand was purchased by Victoria Plumb, and was relaunched as an online only retailer on 30 November 2011[5][6] only for it to cease trading again in July 2015.[7]
Following a rebrand in 2015, Victoria Plumb became VictoriaPlum.com and announced that it was to expand into other home product categories. As part of this expansion, VictoriaPlum.com announced on 17 March 2016 that it was set to revive the MFI brand name, to represent its exclusive collection of low cost, value for money bedroom furniture.[8]
- ^ Treanor, Jill (23 September 2006). "MFI sold for £1 and repackaged as Galiform". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
- ^ "Administrators called in at MFI". BBC News. 26 November 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
- ^ Official MEP website and news
- ^ "Furniture chain MFI closes down". BBC News. 19 December 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
- ^ "Refurbished MFI set to launch online". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ Cripps, Peter (30 November 2011). "MFI relaunches as online retailer". The Independent.
- ^ Chapman, Matthew (29 July 2015). "MFI brand ceases trading as owner VictoriaPlum.com repositions itself". Retail Week.
- ^ Tugby, Luke (18 March 2016). "MFI brand to be relaunched through owner VictoriaPlum.com's website". Retail Week.