The story of Leekes, one of Wales’ best-loved home department retailers, is a celebration of entrepreneurial spirit. Launched with a soldier’s stipend over 125 years ago, the company has continually looked for opportunities to grow and evolve, while remaining true to its Rhondda Valley roots.
Over 60,000 people currently visit Leekes stores each week, while away from the shop floor, the company has diversified into a wider leisure and retail group. Emma Leeke, a fourth-generation member of the organisation, now leads Leekes as its Managing Director.
“Leekes is a true family affair,” Emma states. “My great-grandfather came back from the Boer War and set up an ironmongers shop in the front room of a Rhondda Valley terrace house. Very slowly, but quite significantly, that business grew into the one we know today.”
Family Legacy
Passed down through the generations, the Leeke family business has progressed from ironmongers to builders’ merchants to one of the UK’s first out-of-town department stores. In 2025, the organisation operates three major Leekes department stores: in Llantrisant, Melksham, and Cross Hands.
“Whether it’s furniture, bathroom, kitchens, conservatories, windows, lighting, paint, carpet, or flooring – from the build to finishing touches, our department stores really provide everything for the home,” Emma declares. “These stores are strategically located around 45 minutes to an hour apart, as we recognised that customers are willing to drive that far for the range and scale of our products.”
Building on the more profitable elements of its offering – primarily, furniture and kitchens – Leekes recently launched three smaller-format stores with a narrower product focus. These Leekes stores can be found in Cheltenham and Bilston, as well as its Park Furnishers brand trading in Bristol. Once again, the company was deliberate in its choice of sites.
“One route we took for our furniture stores was to purchase established family businesses with the same sort of values as us,” Emma explains. “For instance, our Bilston store in the Birmingham area was previously family-owned and known as Coles of Bilston. Similarly, our store near Bristol was run by a family that had been trading for three generations.”
This combination of careful planning and willingness to seize opportunities has been a vital component in Leekes’ recipe for success. It has also led the organisation to look outside its original sphere of interest and expand beyond the homeware retail activities that made it famous. Namely, in the early 2000s, harnessing the same entrepreneurial spirit that got the business off the ground, Emma’s father took a swing at something new.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
“Around twenty-five years ago,” Emma reports, “my father invested in a golf course being built on land behind our family home. He eventually became a majority shareholder, and what was once a 9-hole golf course transformed into the Vale Resort.”
As well as two golf courses, the Vale Resort boasts a 143-bedroom four-star hotel and the largest leisure club in Wales. Leekes’ successful involvement in the venture encouraged the business to further diversify its interests, and it now counts Hensol Castle, which operates as a gin distillery and events space, among its assets. The castle also played an important role in manufacturing hand sanitiser during the Covid-19 pandemic – evidence that Leekes is not just entrepreneurial, but community-spirited.
“On the charity front,” Emma says, “I’ve served on the board of the NSPCC in Wales for the last twenty years. We’ve also raised a considerable amount of money for the NSPCC and smaller charities, like Cwtch Mawr in West Wales, and Rhondda Netball. Ultimately, we are a Welsh-based family business, and we always like to give back to our local communities.”
While the company’s commitment to its community support has remained constant, it’s safe to say that Emma has seen Leekes change significantly in her twenty-five years with the organisation. After honing her skills as a graduate with Marks and Spencer in London, Emma took up a position with the family business and has since helped guide Leekes through the 21st century.
“We’ve evolved the business in response to customer needs and market trends,” Emma remarks. “For example, we’ve moved away from things like sound and vision, and taken on garden rooms and garden structures, which have been boosted by the rise of hybrid working post-pandemic.”
Arguably one of Leekes’ greatest strengths has been this ability to change and adapt, whilst remaining a reliable source of quality products and services to generations of customers. Alongside its strong family presence, the company’s constancy has been boosted by a loyal and long-serving workforce.
The Right Balance
“We have multiple members of the same family working for us,” Emma comments. “We also have many team members who have worked their way up through the business from part time Saturday roles to heading up different areas of our operation. With new appointments bringing fresh ideas to our operation coupled with over 60 members of the team with more than 20 years’ service, we have a strong mix of talent and experience.”
Bolstered by an ability to balance experience and youth, tradition and evolution, Leekes now heads towards 150 years in business. Though it might be known as the “Harrods of Wales” to some of its customers, Emma is just as proud of the company’s stature in its local community as she is with any comparisons to world-famous brands.
“Lots of customers say to us, ‘I just love when the Leekes lorry arrives outside my house and the neighbours all know where I’ve bought my furniture,’” Emma observes. “Building on this kind of feedback, we will have an eye on more scalable, smaller-format furniture stores going forward, as well as finding new ways to encourage people to visit our existing sites, including the introduction of InPost lockers and electric vehicle charging.”
Most importantly for Emma, Leekes is now ideally positioned to overcome future challenges and further establish its position among the UK’s very best retail and leisure brands. Like the hardware its founder, James Henry Leeke, forged in his Tonypandy ironmongery, Leekes is built to last.
“As a family, we have continued to invest in our business over the years and that has given us a really strong foundation,” Emma says in summary. “We will be more than able to weather any storms that the retail market might bring our way.”
