About Us

The Great British Card Company, Paper House, Medici Cards, The Almanac Gallery, Avanti and the Paper Gallery combined, are the largest independently owned direct-to-retail greetings card publisher in the UK.

The Company has been trading since 1980 and is very much a family run, UK owned, greeting card publisher. Our offer was strengthened even further when we bought Medici cards in 2008 and the London based card publisher, The Almanac Gallery in June 2012. On 1st May 2015, The Great British Card Company became the exclusive licensor and distributor in the UK for Avanti Press and recently launched our new range, Paper Gallery. We now classify ourselves as one of the largest UK owned direct to retail publishers.

Over the years we have been best known for our humour ranges such as Eric the Penguin and the Humour Factory, as well as over one thousand different designs in special occasions, family birthdays, milestone ages, and gift bags and wrap. We also have a strong product offer covering photographic, art and contemporary fashion styles. Our pro-active publishing programme means that all ranges are regularly updated, and with the addition of new looks, we launch over 500 new titles every year. This is all backed up from our excellent purpose built offices and warehouse in Gloucester, where we offer a first class service and support to all our customers.

Over the years we have expanded our services as follows:

Full Planning Service – we offer bespoke plans to ensure retail sales are maximised.

Retail Development – we work with many of our customers in supplying appropriate fixturing (standard card racks or the latest innovative fixturing). Unlike other publishers offering this service, we are flexible with the percentage of space we require, therefore, still ensuring you can offer choice across your card ranges.

Merchandising – merchandising support is tailored to our individual customer’s requirements to ensure sales are maximised and stocks are kept tight.

Review and Refresh – we are great believers in reviewing sales and refreshing product on a regular basis, therefore ensuring your customers are seeing regular changes. We also offer a sale or return policy for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter and Father’s Day stock only.

Waterwells Distribution – our brokerage operation that provides one delivery, one invoice, full merchandising support and bespoke display options and an effective solution for your greeting card requirements. This offers a genuine alternative to the usual supermarket and high street displays, allowing you to have a comprehensive offer from many of the UKs leading specialist publishers.