OUR HISTORY
Delivering quality & service since 1979
CJ Love employs over 20 people, runs 5 delivery vans, offers customers the option to buy from a 15,000ft² warehouse or a cutting edge webshop with direct links to auctions and suppliers around the world.
Not bad for a business that started 40 years ago with one man and his van. Here’s how it all started…
1979
Where it all began
1984-85
First steps – importing from Holland
1988-89
The business starts to grow
When the Love family move to a bigger house in Sidcup, Cliff moves operations to this new base, effectively now running the business from the back garden.
CJ Love purchases a second van and Darryl starts a new delivery round, specialising in flowers and venturing farther afield into London, Kent and Essex.
Gavin Lindsey joins the sales team and takes over Cliff’s delivery round.
1993
3rd Member of Staff Joins
Paul Crowson joins CJ Love as Sale Manager and starts another flower van round which really cements CJ Love’s presence in Kent. At this stage, the vans still go to market daily to stock up on English flowers as well as buying from HIP.
1994
‘The Yard’
This is an exciting time for CJ Love as, just before Mother’s Day ’94, having outgrown Cliff’s garden, the company moves to their current site in North Cray Road. The ‘unit’ is effectively a large, glass greenhouse about 50ft x 20ft in size, standing in the middle of a field. This greenhouse is now the basis for our main warehouse section, although it’s not glass now!
1995
More Vans & More Space
CJ Love’s expansion continues as fourth van joins the fleet and a sundries delivery round is introduced. This proves very popular and more space is required…
The warehouse is extended to accommodate a chilled flower room of around 30ft x15ft, a covered section for plants and storage area for sundries adding around 7,000ft² to the site.
1996
Increased Imports from Holland
Up until this point, Cliff has been buying carnations, spray cars and other imported flowers via the market but the volume required now means that import flowers can be sourced directly. Unsurprisingly, sales go up as prices and quality improve.
1997-98
Cliff’s Eldest Son Joins
’97 – Cliff’s son Dan joins the growing empire as a Saturday boy, learning the trade from the grass roots up. Dan is currently head buyer at CJ Love.
’98 – As things get busier, Gary Playford join the sales team and Nigel Baker is brought into the accounts department.
2000-2002
Fresh imports 6 days a week
2000 – The new millennium dawns and CJ Love join forces with two more Dutch companies and are now receiving deliveries from Holland 6 days per week.
A second plant van round is introduced.
2002 – Sam Dooley, who is now our Sundries Manager, joins the sales team and is based at the warehouse.
2005
Love’s goes digital
CJ Love set up their first website, a very simple affair but a web presence nonetheless.
A webshop is launched allowing customers to order online for the first time. At first the webshop is simple but within a short time there are direct links with Holland and the shop becomes more interactive.
2006
Wholesaler of the Year
CJ Love wins the prestigious ‘Wholesaler of the Year’ award at the Spring Florist Event. The team were especially proud of this award as it was voted for by florists – the people who matter – and was a testament to all the hard work the team were putting into the business.
2007-2008
Overnight deliveries
2007 – As internet and warehouse sales soar, the flower vans and one of the plants vans are phased out over a period of a year. This enables CJ Love to offer overnight direct deliveries to shops. To this day we still offer seasonal plant and seasonal sundries van sales throughout the year to keep that personal touch!
2008 – Adapting to the overnight direct-deliveries, Jon Banks joins CJ Love.
2011
CJ Love buy from auction
Cliff’s youngest son Matthew Love joins as part of the sales team. In 2014, Matt moved into the overnight section.
A remote buying link to the auctions in Holland is established, purchasing flowers directly at major auctions. This strategy ensures greater control over stock and competitive prices.
2012
Web Shop Improves
2015
Web Shop gets even better
Continual improvements to the web shop have rendered it almost unrecognisable to the one created just 3 years ago. Every customer has complete control over their own account from their portal and can browse, order and pay.
