[4] With his wife Janet, from 1993 they began buying cards wholesale, and selling them from the back of their van at car boot sales and public open air events.

[4] After opening a few stores, whilst Janet founded and headed up the internal design and print function, Dean concentrated on expanding the business, with a nominal target of 500 retail outlets.

[6] The couple put the business up for sale in January 2010[4] and on 8 April 2010, Charterhouse completed the £350 million purchase of the company which at the time operated 480 stores.

Incidents have included poor stock management, blocking of fire exits, overstocking of stores,[20] damaged equipment, inadequate risk assessments and staff training.

[21] In 2008 the company was fined £15,000 after an elderly woman tripped over a cardbox which had fallen from a display area in an aisle and fractured her thigh.

Despite a prior commitment to achieve 40% female representation by December 2024, the company maintained only two women on its six-member board, stating it was not in shareholders' interests to appoint an additional director solely to meet this target.