Established in 1891, Janes has been successfully trading for over 130 years
We couldn’t be prouder of being a part of our community
Based in Edlesborough the whole time, we have seen the evolution of the High Street and couldn’t be prouder of being a part of our community.
With a personal service and specialist knowledge, Louise and the team can help with all flooring requirements both domestic and commercial, with Andy and the team being experts in all things electrical!
Our flooring department are approved retailers for leading manufacturers; Karndean, Victoria Carpets + Design Floors LVT, Penthouse Carpets, Gaskell Carpets, Crucial Trading, Lifestyle, Cormar Carpets, Brockway, Cavalier Carpets, Brampton Chase LVT and many more.
On the electrical side, we are a Euronics Agent which means that we have access to the best prices for your appliances, which means we can price match!*
Please visit our showroom or contact us for more information.
*Ts and Cs apply
We're proud of our history
Click on the buttons below to read more about our history milestones...
Ezra Janes – Founder 1881
In the beginning- Ezra Janes started as a black smith in the village of Edlesborough, after more than two centuries of farming and farrier work, he broke away from the family tradition to make shoes for people rather than horses. Three years after operating his business from his cottage called Hawthorns, round the Green. He decided to build a house and a shop along the high street originally known as Glass Bottle Row- This consisted of 13 Thatched Flint stone Cottages that had run into ruin and neglect, these adjoined the News Agents & Broomstick Cottage (behind 8 High Street). These cottages were demolished to make way for the new family home and JANES Boots Stores.
As a devout Christian- Ezra Janes was the Deacon at Edlesborough Baptist Chapel. In later life he was also appointed as Clerk of the Parish Council- pursuing the need for Electric street Lights as well as the village school and in 1894 appointed the Assessor and Collector of Taxes.
Charles Janes Son – 1920’s
Charles Janes returned from service in the first world war, based in Arias France. He became involved in the business after marrying Ethal Room in 1923, they moved into the shop while Ezra moved to renovate 3 cottages overlooking the village green- now called Greenview, where the outbuildings had originally been built for the cottage industry of the Straw Plaiting.
Charles Introduced the hire and re-charging of accumulator batteries for wirelesses, in those days the only way to know what was going on in the world was with a wireless [radio] powered by a small motorcycle size accumulator battery. Charles also introduced the sales of Cycles and Radios whilst still making shoes and repairing shoes and boots.
Philip & Donald Janes Grandchildren 1940’s
When Philip finished School at The Cedars in Leighton Buzzard he began to get involved working in the shop and doing the shoe repairs but was soon called up for service in World War 11. Charles held the fort back in the village until war was over.
When Philip returned from military service the business was desperately short of stock due to the coupon-based economy and shortage of goods and supplies. Grandpa had continued trading primarily by doing shoe repairs and bike repairs along with the accumulator charging. Philip soon married Mary and moved into the shop. Philip worked hard to recover the business selling shoes, bicycles, radios, wash boilers, spin dryers and when the fridge came along – wow he was keen to include those into his stock range!
Philip also continued with shoe repairs and bicycle repairs. When Philip’s brother Donald left Dunstable Grammar school and returned from National Service he joined with Philip in the business, and they were both involved in travelling round the villages delivering goods and collecting payments from loyal regular customers. “Mr Janes” as they were both known then offered payment plans to help our customers pay off children’s school shoes, a new fridge or even a twin tub.
Martin & Peter Janes 1970’s Great Grandchildren
Martin initially having trained to be a precision engineer decided to change career and join the business slightly before Peter who had only ever envisaged the one career option – joined as well!
In the 70’s we concluded that if we had a future in the community, we must enlarge our premises and Martin & Janet who had initially moved into the house adjoining the shop, moved out to make way for the shop to take over the entire premises. The shoe shop was refitted by Clarkes footwear and re-sited in what is now the Village Flower Shop and the Bikes, Electrical & Radios sales occupied the main building. Shortly after this we introduced Carpets and Vinyl flooring into our range which was a fast-growing department.
In 1986 we took the difficult decision to close the shoe shop down. Having been in existence from the beginning of time! The shopping trends were changing, and we concluded that the time was right to close that part of the business and concentrate on the electrical, cycle and flooring area.
Martin concentrated on visiting customers and Peter focused on the in-house shop sales. The Carpets & Flooring was soon becoming an ever-growing part of our business and we made the decision to knock through into what is the adjacent shop to create a new showroom- as what you see today.
Andrew Janes 1997 Ezras Great, Great Grandchild
Andrew left school in 1997 to pursue training as a floor layer. By 2002, he had transitioned to working for the family business. Initially taking on a sales role, Andrew quickly found himself immersed in the intricacies of the Payment Plans and collected and sold to our regular Customers- His journey with the company saw him spearheading the implementation of its EPOS system, ushering in computerisation across both sectors. In 2007, he introduced a stock-controlled website to Janes, further modernising its operations.
Following training in appliance repair, Andrew ventured into establishing the appliance repair division of the business in 2010. The year 2021 marked a significant milestone as Andrew steered the company joining the Euronics buying group. This strategic move was aimed at navigating the challenges posed by online price wars, allowing Janes to offer a competitive advantage across its range of TVs and appliances.
Louise Janes 2005 Ezras Great, Great Granddaughter
Louise worked as a Saturday Girl in the shoe shop in the mid 1980’s- cleaning and dusting the display shoes and windows. The idea of becoming a window dresser stuck at an early age and she choose to pursue her career outside of the family business, Studying at Watford Cassio (now Herts.) Collage in Display- Design- Interior Design- Fashion & Textiles. Her first real job once leaving Collage early 1990s she worked at MOORES in Dunstable as their full time Window Dresser- Moving onto the bright lights of House of Fraser Department Store- as a Visual Merchandiser and then progressing to senior management, managing teams of VM’s on new store openings.
JANES opened the new Carpet & Flooring Showroom 2004, and after some persuasion from Martin (Dad), Louise choose to make the jump and work for the family business and manage the showroom, sales & fitters. Over the years we have seen the sales grow, introduced new brands, converted everything into computerised set up, and returning to her roots working alongside some fabulous interior designers. Louise is now the Carpet & Flooring Estimator and loves getting involved with her customers, helping, guiding them through the process and offering interior advice if needed.
If you’ve got a project, we’d love to hear about it!
Community
When we work with suppliers, we do our utmost to keep it local. In terms of our community; we support our local festivals/events by advertising their events in our shop and on social media, we are also a community hub for selling tickets for local events.
We support local directories by advertising and championing other small businesses. We are a supportive hub for locals to just pop in for a cuppa if that’s what they need - always service with a smile!
We truly believe in supporting grassroots sports and businesses; we sponsor a youth team of Edlesborough EBLions AFC enabling them to develop and continue to flourish.
Sustainability
It’s always challenging when you have a retail outlet like ours, but this is what we do to balance any waste we produce... First and foremost we recycle any waste that we can within our waste contract, in addition to that we sell carpet off cuts which are used for a variety of purposes.
All of our paper is shredded and recycled using ‘Shred-It’. Our van is electric, and we have solar panels on our building. We stock a good range of appliances that are rated A on energy efficiency, and for our carpets & flooring side of the business we supply carpets that are sustainable (and fantastic quality therefore negating the need to replace often) as well as underlay which uses recycled fibres (including vehicle tyres) and recycled foam which offers great thermal insulation. We try to maintain a balance between supply & demand whilst aligning with our values.
If you’ve got a project, we’d love to hear about it!
We are based in Edlesborough and cover the surrounding villages & towns:
Edlesborough, Eaton Bray, Totternhoe, Dunstable, Whipsnade, Studham, Kensworth, Houghton Regis, Caddington, Flamsted, Stanbridge, Tilsworth, Eggington, Clipstone, Leighton Buzzard, Linslade, Slapton, Northall, Ledburn, Mentmore, Wing, Stewkley, Cubblington, Wingrave, Cheddington, Pitstone, Marsworth, Long Marston, Wilstone, Dagnall, Little Gaddesden, Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead and surrounding areas.