From garden shed to million pound confectionery business

Online confectionery retailer PickandMix.com has marked two years at Winnington Business Park in Northwich after moving from a garden outbuilding to a 1,000 sqft unit in 2023, as annual pick and mix sweets sales top £1m.

The story reflects a broader shift in the industrial property market, where demand for flexible warehouse space continues to outstrip supply, especially since the pandemic and the shift away from high street retail to ecommerce.

When William Hale started selling pick n mix sweets online from his garden shed in 2021, he never imagined he’d need an industrial space within 12 months. But that’s exactly what happened after lockdown Britain developed a serious sweet tooth.

“We went from operating out of our summerhouse to needing proper industrial space within a year of starting the business” says Hale. “The lockdown boom caught us completely off guard as everyone suddenly wanted retro sweets delivered to their door.”

FI Real Estate Management (FIREM) provided a brand-new unit at the recently completed Winnington Business Park. PickandMix.com was among the first units to open at the Northwich site after construction finished in 2023.

According to data shared by the ecommerce platform WooCommerce, PickandMix.com’s revenue jumped 24x between September 2021 and December 2024, growth that demanded greater warehouse capacity.

Along the way, the company has gained the spotlight after picking up celebrity customers including TV duo Ant & Dec, and Hale himself appeared on Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch.

“Looking back, choosing a new unit at Winnington Business Park gave us the operational space we needed,” Hale adds. “They [FIREM] helped us find the right location and have provided continued support, which has been crucial for sustainable growth.”

Rather than offering standard industrial boxes, FIREM works with tenants to create bespoke solutions, from hairdresser fit-outs to large-scale warehouse configurations.

The Winnington Business Park development was designed with growth in mind, allowing ecommerce businesses to expand or adapt quickly as volumes change.

For those in the industry, this case demonstrates how the right industrial space, combined with supportive landlord relationships, can be the difference between a business hitting capacity constraints or scaling successfully.

As Hale puts it: “Without the move to a proper industrial unit, we’d still be operating at a side-hustle level. The warehouse space allowed us to grow our operations and handle the volume of orders we’re now processing daily.”