J Salmon, the oldest calendar and post card publisher in the UK is proposing to withdraw from publishing at the end of this year, after over 100 years of trading.
The Kent-based publisher cites a lack of succession management options as being part of the main reason for the proposed changes, together with economic considerations.
The company has entered a period of consultation with its staff.
The company has been owned by the Salmon family since it was founded in 1880. It is currently run by Charles and Harry Salmon, the fifth generation of the family to be involved in the business.
In a statement issued by Charles and Harry, the company’s joint managing directors they said: ‘It is with great regret that the company is today announcing a proposal to withdraw from publishing. Increasingly challenging trading conditions and changes to the nature and size of the market for its publications have resulted in uncertainty over the viability of its trade going forward, and its current structure as a UK based printer publisher. We have also had to consider that there are no more members of the family who wish to join the business.”
In a letter to the company’s many retail customers, Charles and Harry thanked them for their support over the years and gave the assurance that ‘the company will continue to trade normally until the end of 2017’ and will supply the full range of its products until then.
While calendars and postcards remain at the core of the business, its portfolio also includes greeting cards, diaries, guide books, gift books, recipe books, prints and placemats.
In addition to Salmon’s wide range of local interest calendars, which spans over 150 titles, it is also respected for its general interest calendars as well as its functional ‘Red and Black’ range.
Salmon has always been proud that all its products are designed and printed in British at its site in Sevenoaks.
The company’s origins go back to 1880 when Joseph Salmon, who had been a bookseller in London, acquired a stationer’s shop with a general printing business in Sevenoaks, Kent.
The company began publishing postcards in the 1890s, followed shortly afterwards by calendars. It has continued to print all of its publications at its site in Sevenoaks.
