From our humble beginnings as a start-up business in Hull, with a team of just five 27 years ago, to now employing over 2500 people with branches right across the UK, there’s no doubt that 2022 has been another incredible year at MKM. 

We’ve celebrated the major milestone of opening of our 100^th branch, launched MKM Home – our state-of-the-art kitchen and bathroom showroom in Hull - launched a new website and entered the hire market for the first time.

Importantly, we’ve also continued to live and breathe MKM’s ethos of ‘doing the right thing’ by playing a significant role in our local communities. This has resulted in not only raising thousands of pounds for Macmillan Cancer Support, but our amazing people have supported hundreds of local charities, sports teams and community projects across the country.

So as 2022 draws to a close and we welcome the New Year, here’s a quick round-up of all the major stories from MKM over the last 12 months:  

 

Community Spirit

Every one of our branches is run independently and one of the real benefits of this model is that each branch can build relationships with local causes that mean the most to them. This helps to make sure that MKM’s charity work is having a direct impact on the communities we serve. 

Our 100 Good Deeds campaign, launched to celebrate the 100^th branch opening, saw our branch network take the initiative to work together to help others. Good causes ranged from local food banks to hospices, primary schools, the Air Ambulance, children’s and health-related charities, the RNLI and community trusts – the list goes on and on!

On a national scale – and sticking with the 100 theme - we were incredibly proud to support Macmillan Cancer Support with a Silent Auction, raising more than £24,000 thanks to some great prizes such as a Porsche driving experience, VIP tickets to a Premier League game, hampers and more.

We also believe that our presence should be used to help raise awareness of health issues, so the ‘Check Your Tools’ campaign – a partnership with the Oddballs Foundation – encouraged customers to self-examine for signs of testicular cancer. Our ‘It Takes Two’ social media campaign encouraged trades people to take two minutes to ask a colleague, or a mate, if they’re really OK in support of mental health, collaborating with Andy’s Man’s Club.

We’ve also supported a number of organisations through our central support offices in Hull, including The Children’s University, FEO, Macmillan and The Prince’s Trust.

Finally, a special mention to David Harari, Branch Director at MKM Warrington, who’s been awarded a honorary fellowship award from his local rotary club for outstanding services to fundraising over the years.

 

 

Branch News

The headlines go to MKM Bromsgrove as it marked our 100^th branch opening, but there were a host of fantastic branch openings right across the year. 

It all started in January, with the opening of MKM Bolton. This was followed by MKM Aldershot in Spring, which was officially opened by football legends Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Martin Tyler. 

We opened our first ever branch in Cornwall with MKM Redruth in the summer and then had a bit of a crazy September and October with the openings of Bromsgrove, North Walsham, Lincoln North and Bury.  The year ended in style by welcoming MKM Gloucester and MKM Newbury, bringing the total network to 106 strong!

We’ve been joined by some fantastic celebrities along the way too, including ex-England striker Dion Dublin, British icon and Olympic legend Eddie the Eagle Edwards, Corrie actor and I’m a Celeb hero Andy Whyment as well as many others.

Elsewhere, we were delighted to announce the further expansion of our presence in Scotland with the acquisition of Woodrow Timber back in May. Finally, MKM Sheffield South was rebranded to MKM Sheffield Parkway. What a year!

 

New Cutting-Edge Website

Aside from the investment in our branch network, we’re also extremely proud to have transformed our digital presence with the launch of mkm.com.

Our new website utilises world-first technology to offer an improved user experience and personalised journey for our customers – so they can replicate the impeccable service they’ve come to expect from MKM now online as well!

MKM.com puts an emphasis on ‘experience’ – it’s easy to navigate, full of interesting tips and gives customers access to everything they need.

It’s dynamic, responsive and we love it.  And there’s more improvements to come next year too…

 

MKM Home

Put simply, MKM Home is a game-changer. Based in Hull (and now with a second showroom in Grimsby), MKM Home is unlike anything else available to homeowners and tradespeople across the region. Featuring truly stunning kitchen, bathroom and landscaping displays, MKM Home is backed by a team of design experts, who can help customers make their dream home a reality!

We were absolutely delighted in December to see MKM Home win ‘Bathroom Retailer of the Year’ at the KBB Focus Awards – what an amazing start for the showroom!

MKM Hire

While we’re on the topic of game-changing developments in 2022, MKM Hire saw us take another great step forward, with five branches taking part in the initial roll-out. We’ve also agreed a partnership with manufacturing giant JCB, which puts us in the machinery hire market for the very first time.

Watch this space for further updates in 2023!

 

Getting social

We’ve had some amazing results this year really pushing the boundaries when it comes to our video content.  We’ve tried to do things a bit differently, to show our personality and have a bit of fun. If you want to take another look at some of the best, check out the links below:

• MKM Cribs
• Rocky Balboa
• 2K Da Builder
• Eddie the Eagle
• Iconic World Cup Goals recreated
• Breaking News story with Dion Dublin
• The A-Team
• It’s Magic!

 

Apprenticeships

This year took us to more than 50 active apprentices at MKM in a whole host of diverse jobs; from those in our central support offices - IT, Health & Safety, Procurement, Customer Service, Marketing, Learning and Development, to dozens of roles in our branches – from kitchen designers, leadership development, sales team to yard roles and more.  We’re passionate about inspiring the next generation of Merchants and this year have been able to get back into schools to talk to pupils about opportunities and careers at MKM.

 

So, 2022, that’s a wrap!

Wishing you all a fantastic Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Discover what else is going on at MKM on our blog.