Welcome to Wilts - The UK's largest independent electrical wholesaler
info@wilts.co.uk

About Us » Our History

Wilts Wholesale Electrical has been owned by the Kingsbury Family since 1946. The company was established back in 1925 by an electrical contractor called the James Brothers. They had three shops in local Wiltshire towns and an electrical wholesale business in Trowbridge. This business held the franchise for Exide batteries that were used in large country houses before the mains supply was established. After the war, the current owners sold the Trowbridge operation to George Kingsbury and his partner Len Doel. They had both worked within the business and saw that it had potential as an electrical wholesaler. David Kingsbury started working with his father, George Kingsbury, in the 1950’s and they operated with just one branch until 1974 when the Gloucester branch was opened. The Trowbridge branch was originally situated in the town centre but moved to its current location in the mid 70’s where it has grown to what it is today – a 150,000 sq ft distribution warehouse plus the 160-person Support Centre.
Mark Kingsbury, our late Chairman and son of David Kingsbury, joined the business in 1980 working in the Bath branch which was the 3rd branch to be opened. As of today we have over 70 branches covering the South of the country from Redruth in Cornwall to Ashford in the South East and from Southampton on the south coast to Cannock in the Midlands. It is an outstanding achievement when you look at how the business has grown from just one branch to 70 in only 30 years. George Kingsbury retired in the 1960’s and David Kingsbury ran the business until 1996 when David Purdon, who was the Finance Director, was promoted to Managing Director. At this time, David Kingsbury was Chairman of the business and remained so until December 2006 when he retired and Mark Kingsbury took over the position from Deputy Chairman. The business is still family owned and it is the Kingsbury family’s intention for it to remain this way. The next Kingsbury generation, Mark’s son, Sean Kingsbury, is already working for Wilts.
The Kingsbury family has always reinvested in the business and will continue to do so going forward. We are constantly looking for potential acquisitions to expand further and always look for opportunities for development such as our new computer system which went live in April 2009.
Here at Wilts, we realise that our staff are our greatest asset. Achieving £100m turnover was a milestone for Wilts, and wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the passion and commitment of everyone within the business. The relationship we have with our staff, our customers and our suppliers is extremely important to us. We will continue to invest in our employee’s future and will always look to improve our service to our customers, ensuring that we make it easy for our customers to deal with us.
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