OUR ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Continuing the series in which the companies and organisations that
share our aims and values introduce themselves.
Based in Hinckley,
Cordee are one of
Britain’s leading
distributors of outdoor
guide books and maps
W
e’re over 45 years old!!
Having started life as a
sole distributor for rock
climbing guidebooks published by the
largest climbing clubs in the UK, the
business now includes distribution
of titles encompassing all outdoor
activities such as walking, cycling,
skiing, surfing, kayaking, canoeing.
While climbing remains at our core,
we’ve seen cycling books flourish in
the last few years and who’d heard of
kayak fishing 10 years ago?
Cordee exist to help publishers,
big or small, of outdoor publications
find a way to market. Whether one
man and his computer or a larger
operation. We offer advice and
guidance from initial concept of the
book right through to selling into
the trade. We look after nearly 80
publishers.
For our customers we aim to
be a one stop shop for all their
outdoor guide and map needs. We
add an average of 30 new titles
to our catalogue every month.
In recent years, we have also
developed and implemented a stock
management system that manages
individual ranges for multiple stores,
replenishing on a weekly basis. We
have a real mix of customers and the
one uniting trait is a love of the great
outdoors.
In 2008 we outgrew our premises
in Leicester, bit the bullet and
relocated to Hinckley (home of
Triumph Motorcycles and The Black
Cab). We had been packing our
orders onto pallets in the carpark!
Now we work from a 14500 sq
ft purpose-built warehouse and
have more than 1,250,000 items in
stock at any one time. We specialise
in sourcing maps and guides from
all over the world. We supply to
countries all over the world and have
even shipped books to Port Lockroy
in the Antarctic.
In 2015 Chris Balic and Jim Wilson
became only the third owners of
Cordee in its history, having bought
the company from previous owner
Richard Robinson. We have a great
team of long serving staff who really
understand our customers and
their needs. We have also recently
welcomed a new member of staff to
the team, Clare, who will be helping
us develop and look after our book
trade customers.
Cordee has a unique and world-
renowned catalogue of books and
maps that is used by the recreation
and book trade throughout the UK
and the world - our challenge is to
support our publishers by keeping
the market supplied with their unique
books.
summer 2019 | Outdoor focus 7