True Harrogate ‘shop royalty’ is to celebrate an incredible 125 years in the town

Store manager Lynn Cummings, who meant to stay at the family-owned Jespers for just six months when she joined 32 years ago, said independent retailers such as this famous stationers still have a positive story to tell.

"Jespers has outlasted two world wars, the decline of letter-writing, the rise of the internet, and a global pandemic,” said Lynn who first started working at Jespers in 1994.

"So many independent shops on British high streets are facing uncertainty.

"The world is changing rapidly: online retail, rising costs, shifting footfall.

"But Jespers shows that the high street isn't dead, that independent retail can find its second act.

"Technology has its place but we will always need stationery in some form."

Located on Oxford Street, Jespers of Harrogate has been a household name in Harrogate and North Yorkshire since it was founded by F.B.Jesper in 1901 as an engravers, though it has had a few changes of address over the last 129 years, including Prospect Crescent and Parliament Terrace.

Even with the dominance of the digital era and its mobile phones, iPads and laptops, Jespers has always stood out as a bastion of the highest standards in quality pens and stationery, art supplies and office furniture.

Lynn Cummings said: "Jespers tries to earn the kind of loyalty that outlasts the years.

"We have never been interested in the transactional.

"It is a shop that looks to build lifelong relationships with its customers.

"People who have moved away often still order from it.”

The three-storey property near Harrogate Theatre remains a familiar sight to shoppers, thanks partly to its striking blue feature canopy, summer hanging baskets and seasonal window displays.

One of the biggest moments in the history of this member of Harrogate shop royalty came in 2019 when the Jespers family took the difficult decision to sell up.

Rather than this being the end of the story, it simply birthed a new chapter for the popular store.

Up stepped Vickers, another Yorkshire-based independent family business, who also have a long history in stationery and office supplies, to take it on.

The ever-loyal Lynn Cummings stayed, as did Jespers’ deeply ingrained ethos of how to do business.

Lynn Cummings said: "Vickers saw exactly what Jespers was and wanted to protect it and future-proof it, not modernize it into something unrecognisable.

"Under their ownership, Jespers has found new energy while keeping everything that made people love it in the first place: the fountain pens, the artist supplies, the thoughtful gifts you can't find anywhere else in Yorkshire."

With Jespers turning 125 years old this September, the much-loved store is marking it with a week of public celebrations.

Shoppers are advised to be on the look out for a live artist in the window, a prize draw and an evening party on Thursday, September 10 bringing together Harrogate's business community, civic figures, and long-standing friends of the shop.

Lynn Cummings said: "I think the story of Jespers still speaks of something that people genuinely want to hear right now.

"We have always sought to be a place that sees you through the bad times and the good.”

For more information, visit: https://jespersofharrogate.co.uk/