Dunelm was founded in 1979 by Bill Adderley and Jeany Adderley, trading in home textiles from a market stall in Leicester. The first Dunelm store opened in Churchgate Leicester in 1984 with the first superstore opening in Rotherham in 1991. In 1996 Will Adderley took over responsibility for the day-to-day running of the company from his father, Bill Adderley. The expansion of Dunelm continued with a new head office and warehouse being established in 1999 in Syston, Leicestershire. In 2001 the company ventured into manufacturing, acquiring Bellbird producing custom-made curtains, blinds and accessories, with the facility now being known as Dunelm's Manufacturing Centre. On reaching their 50th store Dunelm opened a new warehouse in Burton. Key appointments were made in 2003 with David Stead being brought in as Finance Director; this also coinciding with Dunelm's 60th store and the roll out of EPOS. 2004 saw the company appointing Geoff Cooper as Non-Executive chairman and Marion Sears as a non-executive director. It also saw the opening of their 70th store. Two years later Dunelm opened its 80th store, a new distribution centre in Stoke, and launched their online shopping facility, offering 13,000 homewares products and floated on the London Stock Exchange with it now being a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. 2007 saw the appointment of Simon Emney as non-executive director followed in 2008 with their 90th store and the acquisition of the worldwide rights to the 'Dorma' bed linen brand, for £5 million in July. In 2009 Dunelm appointed Nick Wharton as non-executive director and re-launched their online shopping website. In September 2009, the company announced that Nick Wharton would be taking over from Will Adderley as Chief Executive in March 2011 with Adderley remaining at Dunelm as Executive Deputy chairman. In September 2014 Dunelm Group plc announced that Nick Wharton had resigned his position as Chief Executive and was stepping down from the Board. Will Adderley, previously Executive Deputy chairman, resumed the role of Chief Executive with immediate effect. On 28 November 2016, the company purchased WorldStores and its subsidiary Kiddicare for £8.5 million. On 30 August 2017 Dunelm Group plc announced that John Browett was stepping down with immediate effect as Chief Executive after two years in the role..
Operations
As of 30 June 2018 Dunelm operated 169 stores, spread across the UK, and a webstore.
