The original company was founded back in the early 1970’s trading under the business name, ‘A. S. Wensley’. The company formally sourced major chain store seconds for market retailers. In early 1988 our Directors decided to open the doors to the public, and so ‘The Factory Shops (Essex) Ltd’ journey began.

Fast forward four decades, the business has expanded into new geographical areas. In 1999 we acquired a new 20,000sq foot warehouse and offices located on Purdeys Industrial Estate, Rochford. We also purchased a new retail site on the estate containing 24,000sq foot of retail space. The new Rochford retail site became our flagship store now known as ‘Rochford Super Store’. To follow in 2008-9 was the opening of our high street central stores, Rayleigh & Leigh.

With a wealth of industry knowledge and impressive supplier contacts throughout the UK, Europe and China, our motto is still a very simple one - ‘Expect More, Pay Less’. Our purchasing team has grown over the years and work tirelessly to source and negotiate great quality products to sell at excellent value.

We continue to go forward with this ethos and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our loyal customers, both old and new.