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About Capital Hair & Beauty

Capital Store Map

Where it all started...

Capital Hair & Beauty started out in 1954 as a scissor sharpening company based in Brighton, East Sussex. Since then we've grown into the UK's largest independent supplier to hairdressers, beauty therapists and nail technicians.

We're known for our fantastic product range, great customer service and competitive prices. We're growing every year and now have 60 cash & carry stores throughout the UK and Ireland, please visit our store locator to find your nearest store.

 

A History Of...

Capital was founded in 1954 by the father of our very own directors, Peter and Hamish Vans Agnew. He provided a scissor sharpening service in Brighton and made deliveries on his push bike!

We've come a long way since then, here we take a look back at the history of Capital Hair & Beauty…

1950's

The company was founded in 1954 in Brighton and was known as D.E.L. Supplies. It provided professional hairdressing and animal grooming supplies, as well as a scissor & clipper sharpening service. It was originally created out of a company called Diamond Edge Ltd which still operates today in Brighton, independently from Capital.

 

1960's & 1970's

Peter and Hamish’s father, Michael, subsequently provided self-service trade counters in Brighton and Catford (which operated until the early eighties).

del logo 1
Catford Store 1970s
capital logo
capital store old

1980's

Peter and Hamish joined the team and our first cash & carry wholesale outlet was opened in Hayes, Middlesex; moving away from relying on reps and easing cash flow problems from delayed payments. The company became known as Capital (Hair & Beauty), with a new logo to match - a reflection of the company’s expansion into London. We also started serving customers on Sundays – the first to do so in the trade. Stores then opened in Hove, Kingston, Dagenham, Croydon, Bournemouth and Aldershot.

 

1990's

Peter and Hamish took over as directors of the company. Capital saw more outlets added in Gillingham, Portsmouth, Brierley Hill, Bristol, Walsall, Harrow, Southampton and Hoddesdon, as well as a new Head Office in Patcham, Brighton. In 1999 a direct sales team was established. Our logo also had a bit of a makeover to become the one you see today!

Eastbourne Store
Norwich Store
Wolverhampton Store

2000's

The start of a new century brought a new distribution warehouse in Dagenham and more store openings including Ipswich in 2001, Norwich in 2002, followed by Eastbourne and Wolverhampton in 2003.

In 2004 Capital’s first E-commerce website was launched and in 2005 we branched out by providing our first training courses to enable customers to pick up new skills and broaden expertise, plus give them a chance to meet new people in the business and share tips!

Our store in Ashford opened in 2006, and in 2008 we expanded into northern England and Scotland with openings in East Kilbride, Aberdeen, Carlisle, Glasgow (Hillington) and Edinburgh. Glasgow (Central) opened in 2009 and in response to customer demand, Aberdeen relocated to a larger & more convenient unit, as did our distribution centre and website operations during the summer of 2009. Our store in Crawley also opened at the end of the year.

2010's

2010 saw our first store open in Northern Ireland (Derry), then very soon after followed by our first store in the Republic of Ireland (Dublin), our 30th store!

That year also saw the launch of our all-new website, this was our first completely new website since 2004 (although it went through a couple of face-lift's during that time) and enabled us to provide a much better all-round and easy to use service to our customers. In 2012 we opened our store in Tunbridge Wells.

2013 saw the opening of our second Irish store in Croke Park (Dublin North), and also the release of our first mobile website. Designed specifically for viewing on a mobile phone, it made ordering on the go easy, quick and secure! Late 2013 also saw the opening of our new flagship store and Head Office in Hollingbury, Brighton. We were very busy in this year having opened our 34th store in Oxford, launched our online blog and also redesigned our websites to give them a fresh new look.

60 years
for june

2014 marked our 60th year as a trade only wholesaler! To mark this special occasion we ran VAT Free birthday offers for our customers and celebrated our 60th Christmas with an iPad giveaway. Acquired by Capital in 2014, Pompadour became part of the largest independent supplier to the hair and beauty trade in the UK. 

With Pompadour sites in Derby, Lincoln, Mansfield and Nottingham we are able to supply hair & beauty products across the East Midlands. In 2016 we opened a store in Worthing, as well as a brand new store in Peterborough. In Ireland, we acquired Essential Salon Supplies taking our number of Irish stores up to 3, with a store in Limerick.

pompadour supplies
ess logo
m&s supplies logo
salon express logo

2017 saw M&S Hair & Beauty Supplies also become part of the Capital Hair & Beauty group, with 8 superstores throughout the north of England and Scotland. M&S stock a huge range of professional hairdressing & beauty products including salon furniture and equipment, perfect for fulfilling all your salon services. Come visit us at Chester, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Stockport or Warrington.

Hairdressing Supplies (Glasgow) was later acquired by Capital, giving us the ability to sell the Affinage brand to a wider market. Affinage Professional's extensive range of colours, highlighting systems, colour removal, shampoos, conditioners, styling products, and permanent waves, has been embraced by salons and consumers across the globe, and is testament to Affinage Professional's commitment to the hairdressing industry.

lips hair
hair hand
hair polish

The Capital Hair & Beauty website was also completely revamped, with a site which is slicker and more efficient than ever. More ways to pay, a secure shopping journey and the ability to view, pay and print invoices. Capital have also now teamed up with College Kits Direct (CKD), specialist suppliers of hair, beauty and make up kits to students. All College Kits provided by Capital Hair & Beauty are now fulfilled by this college kit division.

Capital introduced their second store to Northern Ireland at the beginning of 2018. The Belfast store offers a great product selection and competitive prices to the area. Later in the year, we welcomed Salon Express Chelmsford to the Capital Hair & Beauty group, bringing our total number of stores to 51 in the UK & Ireland. Salon Express is a leading UK supplier to the hair and beauty industry. Based in Chelmsford City their extensive showroom displays a wide range of products plus an upper level dedicated to beauty training courses.

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Swansea Store
salon connection shop
salon connection shop front

To finish off 2018, we introduced Salon Connection to the Capital Hair & Beauty group. As Wales' premier supplier of Hair & Beauty products for the Salon Industry, they have more than 25 years experience and have built a reputation for product and service excellence. With stores in Swansea, Cardiff, Neyland and Merthyr Tydfil - Capital Hair & Beauty are excited to be welcomed into Wales. After such a busy year, we are all excited to see what 2019 will bring!

At the start of 2019, the Capital Hair & Beauty group welcomed Absolute Beauty Ltd T/A Salon Shop in Ireland. This brings an additional two stores to the company, based from their head office in Cork city and Bandon Co Cork. Salon Shop has been trading for 14 years and we are pleased to have them on board. We are happy to be expanding our coverage in Ireland, with great pricing and product offerings within the hair & beauty industry.

eclipse supplies logo
Salon Shop Logo - About Us Page

We are delighted to announce that Eclipse Professional Hair & Beauty Supplies is now part of the Capital Hair and Beauty Group, who are the largest independent hair and beauty wholesaler in the UK.

A family run business with 60 stores across the U.K. and Ireland. By joining forces with Capital Hair and Beauty we are able to extend our service to include more brands, choice of products and competitive pricing for our customers.

Buckinghamshire and Berkshire biggest hair and beauty wholesaler to the trade. If you are a professional hairdresser, beauty therapist or nail technician we would love to see you. We supply professional hair and beauty products at wholesale prices to industry professionals.

 

Capital Staff

Who would have thought...

Back in 1954, that the Capital brand would become what it is today? Back then, we were known as D.E.L Supplies, but it was in the 1980s that we began trading as Capital Hair & Beauty. Today the Capital Group is still a family run business; with 60 branches across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and we've loved every minute of every new store opening.

 

We couldn’t have got this far without your amazing custom, so to thank you for your support.

 




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