Stollers, the family-run Walney Road Barrow-in-Furness furniture superstore, marked its 120 years in 2025 with the same name above the same door it has carried since 1905. Five generations of the Stoller family have run the business from a Barrow Market stall to one of the largest single-site furniture retailers in the North West of England. The 1905 Dalton Road shop is the same shopfront the family has signed the lease on across five generations.
The Walney Road store pulls in customers from a 48-mile radius, with 23 per cent of buyers travelling more than an hour to reach it. Lee Stoller, the great-grandson of founder Issiah, runs it as managing director. He works alongside his father David, who is still active in the firm. His two daughters Eden and Didi make up the fifth generation now in the business. Lee Stoller calls the customer travel pattern ‘highly unusual for a furniture store.’
From a Barrow Market Stall to a 48-Mile Draw
The figures that explain how a furniture shop in Barrow-in-Furness has stayed open for 120 years sit in plain sight on a recent customer analysis. Twenty-three per cent of Stollers’ customers travel more than an hour to reach the store, and 85 per cent of its sales now cover a 48-mile radius. The furniture industry norm runs the other way: around 85 per cent of UK furniture purchases take place within 15 miles of the buyer’s home. Lee Stoller calls the pattern ‘highly unusual for a furniture store.’
- 23 per cent of customers travel more than an hour
- 85 per cent of sales cover a 48-mile radius
- 26 per cent growth in out-of-town business over five years
- 110,000 sq ft total retail area after the 2004 extension
Lee Stoller says his ‘out-of-town’ business has grown by 26 per cent over the last five years. He calls the customer travel pattern ‘highly unusual for a furniture store.’ The customers come for themed showrooms, a full-store refit, and a 110,000-square-foot retail hall on a single site in Barrow.
Lee Stoller says the customers who travel tell him visiting Stollers ‘is like a day out.’ The full-store refurbishment, themed across Industrial Chic, Green Quarter, and Boathouse, is built around that idea. The store also stocks a wide range of furniture, beds, carpets, rugs, lighting, and fires and fireplaces, and runs a coffee shop and restaurant on site.
Five Generations at the Helm
Stollers has passed through five generations of the same family without ever changing its name. Issiah Stoller arrived from Latvia in the late 1890s, originally aiming for Whitehaven, got off the train at the wrong stop, decided Barrow-in-Furness looked promising, and stayed. He sold haberdashery, buttons, cloth, pots, pans, and fresh fish from a market stall. In 1905, he opened a shop on Dalton Road in the town centre. A five-generation family business now draws shoppers from a two-hour drive away.
Issiah died in 1944, and his son Philip took over the family business, growing it through the post-war years. Phil used to travel to Manchester, buy a three-piece suite, and sell it on in the store. In the 1960s he bought the building next door and knocked it through. The staff also grew as the business grew, with Philip hiring more salespeople to cover the new space. Two more locations were opened in Millom and Ulverston during this period; both have since closed.
The firm moved from general goods into furniture, beds, and floor coverings in the late 1920s, during Issiah’s tenure. Linens remained the strongest seller for years before the pivot to furniture. The current range at Stollers includes furniture, beds, carpets, rugs, lighting, and fires and fireplaces, with the full set spread across the 110,000-square-foot Walney Road site today.
David Stoller took over from his uncle Phil in 1979 and ran the firm from the smaller Dalton Road premises for fifteen years. Lee Stoller is now the managing director, the great-grandson of Issiah, and runs the business alongside his father David, who is still active in the firm.
Lee’s two daughters, Eden and Didi, are also in the business today. Eden is head of marketing, having started with a Saturday job alongside her grandfather David. Didi joined full-time after a business apprenticeship and now works on the operations side of the company. The succession line is unbroken, and the business has stayed in family hands across 120 years.
The 1994 Bet That Made It the North West’s Largest
In 1994, David Stoller purchased land opposite where Barrow’s Asda store now stands and bet the family business on a single, very large site. The Walney Road superstore opened on 1 December 1994 and immediately became the largest single-site furniture retailer in the North West.
The store won the NatWest Streamline Independent Retailer of the Year Excellence Award and was a finalist in the UK Furniture Industry Awards ‘Retailer of the Year’ category. A 2004 extension brought the total retail area to 110,000 sq ft (10,000 m²). Many UK independents were thinning their footprint in the 1990s and 2000s; Stollers went the other way. The 2004 extension took the site to one of the largest furniture stores in the United Kingdom. The single-site superstore became the foundation for everything that followed.
I am incredibly proud to be welcoming our business into its 120th year. It is safe to say we have come a long way since our beginnings as a Barrow Market stall, and I should like to think we still have a long journey ahead of us. This milestone is a testament to the dedication of our team, the loyalty of our customers, and the family values that have guided us through more than a century of business.
Lee Stoller, the managing director, issued a public statement marking the company’s 120th anniversary in 2025. He thanked the team behind the company and the loyalty of its customers. He framed the occasion as a beginning rather than an end.
Surviving Two World Wars and a Pandemic
Stollers’ 120-year run has spanned two world wars, multiple recessions, and a pandemic. The Lancaster Guardian’s anniversary report puts it directly: the business ‘has evolved with the times, surviving wars, economic downturns, a pandemic, and shifting retail landscapes.’ The store kept trading through all of it. Lee Stoller, the managing director, marked the anniversary by inviting customers to share their own memories of the store across the decades.
The 1994 superstore was opened in the middle of one such downturn and came out larger on the other side. The 2004 extension added 110,000 sq ft of retail floor during a period when many UK high streets were contracting. The in-cumbria analysis, published before the pandemic, framed the business as ‘bucking the trend.’ None of the headline numbers describe a shop in retreat. The single Walney Road site is the regional furniture destination.
David Stoller says Stollers has been through ‘two world wars and umpteen recessions.’ Being able to keep serving the local community after all that is, in his words, ‘very nice.’ The 120-year run has stayed intact through both world wars, the recessions, and the recent pandemic. Each generation of the family has carried the firm through the next downturn.
A 1,000-customer first day for a recent clearance sale showed the reach when the doors are open. The brand line ‘No ordinary furniture store’ has been carried on the store’s public profile for years. The family has stuck with it across 120 years of trading. The phrase sits alongside the same family name that has been on the shopfront since Issiah Stoller’s first Dalton Road store. The name that started on a market stall now sits above a 110,000-square-foot store.
Why the Store Still Hands Out Dolly Mixtures
Small rituals have done as much for Stollers as the square footage. Dolly Mixtures were introduced at the store in the 1960s, the same decade Philip Stoller was buying the building next door and knocking it through. The shop still hands out the sweets to children who walk through the door, a tradition now in its seventh decade. David Stoller, who is still active in the firm, says the family hopes to carry on the 120-year tradition of Stollers ‘feeling like home’ to many people in Barrow-in-Furness.
The store’s 1905 founding and family heritage page still carries the ‘No ordinary furniture store’ brand line. The 1,000-customer first day for a recent clearance sale showed what that continuity looks like in practice. The sweets, the family name, and the single Walney Road site have all stayed in place across the 120 years.
Eden and Didi Are the Fifth Generation in the Business
Eden and Didi Stoller, Lee’s two daughters, are the fifth generation of the family in the business. Both started with Saturday jobs alongside their grandfather David. Eden has moved into marketing as head of marketing. Didi joined full-time after a business apprenticeship and now works on the operations side of the company.
The Companies House register lists Lee Darrell Stoller as an active director, with a correspondence address at Walney Road, Barrow-in-Furness, LA14 5UN. The succession has been orderly, and the next generation is being trained inside the family rather than recruited from outside. The business distributes products across the UK and elsewhere.
For a 120-year-old independent in Barrow-in-Furness, the practical question is whether the same single-site model survives another twenty years. Lee Stoller says he hopes so. He told the Lancaster Guardian he is ‘incredibly proud’ to be welcoming the business into its 120th year and would ‘like to think we still have a long journey ahead of us.’ Five generations of the Stoller family have worked in the business since Issiah opened his market stall. The plan is to keep the family name on the shopfront.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Stollers in Barrow-in-Furness founded?
Stollers was founded in 1905 by Latvian immigrant Issiah Stoller, who arrived in Barrow in the late 1890s after getting off a train intended for Whitehaven. He started with a Barrow Market stall selling haberdashery, buttons, bits of cloth, and general goods. He opened the first Dalton Road shop in 1905.
Who runs Stollers today?
Lee Stoller is the current managing director. He is the great-grandson of founder Issiah Stoller and runs the business alongside his father David Stoller. Lee’s two daughters Eden and Didi work in the business today. Eden is head of marketing, and Didi works on the operations side after completing a business apprenticeship.
How many generations have run Stollers?
Five generations of the Stoller family have been in the business since 1905: Issiah, his son Philip, Philip’s nephew David, David’s son Lee, and now Lee’s daughters Eden and Didi as the fifth generation now in the firm. The succession has been unbroken across 120 years of trading.
Why do so many customers travel so far to shop at Stollers?
Around 23 per cent of Stollers’ customers travel more than an hour to reach the store. 85 per cent of the store’s sales cover a 48-mile radius, a pattern Lee Stoller calls ‘highly unusual for a furniture store.’ The store credits a full-store refurbishment with themed showrooms called Industrial Chic, Green Quarter, and Boathouse. The single Walney Road site is more than 110,000 sq ft of retail floor after the 2004 extension. The combination of scale, themed showrooms, and 120 years of family ownership has built the 48-mile customer radius.
What makes Stollers different from a typical furniture shop?
Stollers calls itself ‘No ordinary furniture store,’ a brand line carried on the store’s public profile. The shop still hands out Dolly Mixtures to children who walk in, a tradition started in the 1960s. The Walney Road site is one of the largest single-site furniture retailers in the North West of England. The store offers interest-free credit on many items, with some furniture available for immediate delivery.
How big is Stollers and when did it expand most?
The Walney Road store totals 110,000 sq ft of retail area today, after a 2004 extension to the original 1994 superstore. The 1 December 1994 opening already made it the largest single-site furniture retailer in the North West. The 2004 expansion cemented the single-site superstore model the family had bet on a decade earlier. Stollers also runs a coffee shop and restaurant on site alongside the main furniture hall. The store offers interest-free credit on many items, with some furniture available for immediate delivery.
