Huppe pulls out of UK

19 Dec, 14

Exit to begin from January 1, 2015.

German shower enclosure manufacturer Huppe will pull out of the UK from January 1, 2015.

The Masco-owned company, which shared its premises with Bristan Group, cited its strategy was to focus on markets “where we belong to the leading shower enclosure brands”, so it could “provide the best possible service to our customers”.

Huppe, which has almost 200 UK retailers, will honour all orders placed before January 31, 2015, at normal terms and all warranties will be honoured for their term, with aftersales service supplied by the company at info@heuppe.com

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Established in 1889 as a supplier to upholsters and saddlers by Justin Huppe, it added room portioning systems to its business in 1955 and became Germany’s first shower enclosure supplier in 1966.

By 1974, a separate company – Huppe Duscha – was set up for its shower enclosure business and it became of subsidiary of Masco Corporation in 1987.

In 1995 and 1997 it took over Spanish shower enclosure manufacturer Reser and Turkish manufacturer Intermart.

Gary Walmsley, MD of Posh Bathing in Bolton and Huppe retailer said: “It is not going to affect our business. The UK market is tough. People think they can get cheaper online and just aren’t interested in quality. The internet is killing our industry.”