Mann-made to last!

Photo: By Darren Robinson

OLDHAM’S economy is driven by local businesses working hard for the good of local people. And we want to do everything we can to support local industry and retail — and help it to thrive. We want to hear from businesses — large and small — who have some GOOD news to report. We will do our best to feature your company and give it it publicity it deserves in a bid to be successful. Just let us know — we’ll do the rest. . .

MANN’S furniture shop is something of an institution in Oldham, and is still thriving 134 years after it first opened its doors.

The family business is in the hands of Alan Ogden, who is a direct relation of the Mann’s family who founded it in 1875.

He has been at the helm for almost 40 years, and prides himself in the business’s long-standing reputation which has seen it serve generation after generation of Oldhamers.

The company has been in the safekeeping of the Ogden/Law family since 1958, and Mr Ogden is aided by his wife, Janet, who looks after the accounts.

Together with seven other members of staff, some of whom have served for more than 20 years, the couple run the bed shop in Union Street, and the furniture shop in Yorkshire Street.

The original store was in Huddersfield Road, near its junction with Greenacres Road, which provided an outlet for furniture made by Mann’s own cabinetmakers in their Shaw Road workshop and warehouse.

The old shop was compulsory purchased in 1958 for works to widen Huddersfield Road, and the business moved to its Yorkshire Street home.

Mann’s no longer makes its own furniture, and sold off the Shaw Road workshop, but it still has its own delivery staff, which is becoming something of a rarity, and helps keep the reputation which brings people back time and time again.

“We have built that reputation up over the years by giving a personal service,” said Mr Ogden.

“We don’t just deliver furniture, we assemble it in people’s homes if necessary, and take it to the room it has been bought for.

“We have regular customers who we have come to know, and it’s lovely when their children grow up and get married then come to us for furniture.

“We feel involved in their lives, and we have looked after generation after generation of the same families.”

Mann’s has a wide range of furniture, from modern bedroom and dining furniture to traditional upholstery such as recliners and lift-and-raise chairs, favoured by older people looking for comfort.

Mr Ogden puts Mann’s success down to personal service, good quality furniture, value for money and the invaluable advertising by “word of mouth,” and said: “We envisage being around for a long time yet.”

The majority of its business is in Oldham and Saddleworth, but customers who have moved out of the area still come back for the personal service often missing from national chainstores.