More than 125 years’ retail expertise

The Group’s business commenced trading in Sunderland in 1894 as a family-owned general home furnishings store, under the name "Suite Centre Sunderland". By the 1980s, the business operated from eight stores in the North East of England under the ScS name, specialising in selling upholstered furniture. Following a management buyout in 1993, the business began to expand outside of the North East of England, and focused on establishing ScS as a major UK upholstered furniture retailer operating from larger and more modern stores in out of town retail park locations.

The store expansion programme saw the store estate grow, and by 2007 it had increased to 95 stores nationwide, under the guidance of the company’s then Chief Executive Officer David Knight, who was appointed in 2002.

In 2012, following the addition of flooring products to its offering, the company was re-branded ‘Sofa Carpet Specialist’ and a number of operational initiatives were also undertaken, including upgrades to business processes, management information and information technology systems.

These improvements led to ScS Group plc being listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2015, following a successful initial public offering.

On the 10th January 2023, the ScS group expanded with the acquisition of Snug, a predominately online modular sofa retailer.

ScS now has a total of 100 stores across the country from as far north as Aberdeen, all the way down to Plymouth. Although predominantly online, Snug operates in two stores in Leeds and Bristol and has 16 concessions throughout the country. The Group has over 1,800 people across the UK.

The Group continues to ensure that the needs of its customers remain at the core of everything it does, just as the "Suite Centre Sunderland" aimed to do over a hundred years ago.

Under the leadership of Steve Carson who was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in January 2021, the Group prides itself on giving its customers a unique shopping experience allowing them to shop easily in-store, online or by phone, with experienced sofa and flooring professionals on hand to provide expert knowledge and advice.

On 31 January 2024 ScS Shares were cancelled from admission to trading on London Stock Exchange following the acquisition of ScS Group Plc by Cerezzola Limited, a newly incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of Poltronesofà S.p.A.