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Allied Suppliers
Home and Colonial Stores was once one of the United Kingdom's largest retail chains. Its formation of a vast chain of retail stores in the late 1920s is seen as the first step in the development of a UK food retail market dominated by a small number of food multiples. History The business was founded by Julius Drewe (1856–1931), who went into partnership with John Musker in 1883, selling groceries at a small colonial goods store in Edgware Road in London. He subsequently opened stores in Islington, Birmingham and Leeds. The shops mainly sold tea; by 1885 they were trading as the 'Home & Colonial Tea Association'. On the incorporation of the business in 1888, William Slaughter took over as chairman. By the turn of the century the company had over 100 stores; by 1903, it had 500. Home and Colonial bought the share capital of Maypole Dairies of Wolverhampton from the Watson family in 1924. Between 1924 and 1931, several stores, including Liptons, merged with Home and Colonial to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galbraith Supermarkets
Galbraith and Sons was a retailing company based in Paisley, Scotland. The company grew to over 220 stores, establishing their own food production plants to supply their stores. Galbraith's were acquired in 1954 by Home and Colonial, becoming part of the Allied Suppliers Group. Galbraith's survived as one of the Scottish trading names for Allied Suppliers until 1987, when it disappeared as part of the Argyll Supermarkets re-branding to Safeway Stores. History Stores Galbraith's Stores first shop was established in Linwood Village, Paisley in 1894. Within 6 years the company had 12 stores and had expanded to over 59 shops by 1919. To minimise capital outlay the stores (usually located in Tenement Blocks) were rented, designed in a uniform style and had narrow shop frontages. The store network grew rapidly, by 1939 the company had over 159 grocery branches and 12 butchers shops. Along with a "provisions" window, staple items such as tea, sugar and bakery goods were adver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Company
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is offered, owned, traded, exchanged privately, or Over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter. In the case of a closed corporation, there are a relatively small number of shareholders or company members. Related terms are closely-held corporation, unquoted company, and unlisted company. Though less visible than their public company, publicly traded counterparts, private companies have major importance in the world's economy. In 2008, the 441 list of largest private non-governmental companies by revenue, largest private companies in the United States accounted for ($1.8 trillion) in revenues and employed 6.2 million people, according to ''Forbes''. In 2005, using a substantially smaller pool size (22.7%) for comparison, the 339 companies on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Supply Stores
Star Supply Stores was a leading chain of British grocers. History The business was founded in Manchester in 1873 by Joseph Cadman and James Fish as the ''Star Tea Company''. Soon, many towns in England had their own Star Supply Store, as immortalised in a verse from John Betjeman's poem ''Myfanwy'': ''Smooth down the Avenue glitters the bicycle,'' ''Black-stockinged legs under navy blue serge,'' ''Home and Colonial, Star, International'', ''Balancing bicycle leant on the verge.'' In 1922 the company, which by then had built up a chain of over 300 shops, bought Ridgways, a leading blender. In 1929 Star Supply Stores was acquired by International Tea Co. Stores International Tea Co. Stores was a leading chain of grocers based in London. It was an original constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The business was founded in 1878 by Hudson Kearley .... References {{reflist Retail companies established in 1873 Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, helping to save St Pancras railway station from demolition. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television. Life Early life and education Betjeman was born John Betjemann. He was the son of a prosperous silverware maker of Dutch descent. His parents, Mabel (''née'' Dawson) and Ernest Betjemann, had a family firm at 34–42 Pentonville Road which manufactured the kind of ornamental household furniture and gadgets distinctive to Victorians. During the First World War the family name was changed to the less German-looking Betjeman. His father's forebears had actually come from the present day Netherlands more than a century earlier, setting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Safeway (UK)
Safeway is a British brand owned chain of supermarkets and convenience shops. Founded in 1962 by the American Safeway Inc., before being sold to Argyll Foods in 1987. It was later listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was purchased by Morrisons in March 2004. Most of its 479 shops were rebranded as Morrisons, with others being sold. The brand disappeared from the United Kingdom on 24 November 2005. In November 2016, Morrisons revived the Safeway brand for a range of products, manufactured in the company's own factories, for distribution through UK independent retailers. History Early years Safeway Food Stores was established in 1962 in the United Kingdom by the American supermarket chain Safeway, with seven supermarkets and a few smaller stores in Greater London, and its first purpose-built store was opened in Bedford in 1963. It brought many ideas from the US, including larger stores with wider aisles and delicatessens, and a much wider range of products. By 1987, it had 133 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argyll Foods
Argyll Foods plc was the fourth biggest supermarket operator in the United Kingdom, through its acquisitions of a number of smaller supermarkets. In 1987 the company acquired Safeway Inc.'s UK subsidiary and in 1996 it changed its name to Safeway plc. History Early years The company was founded as ''James Gulliver Associates'' in 1977 by James Gulliver, a former Fine Fare Chief Executive, Alistair Grant, a marketing specialist and David Webster, a merchant banker. The founders acquired two food businesses, Morgan Edwards, a business owning the Supervalu chain of foodstores, and Louis C. Edwards, a meat business in Manchester,Brian BashaObituary: James Gulliver ''The Independent'', 23 September 1996 integrated them and then, in 1980, adopted the name Argyll Foods after Gulliver's place of birth. In 1981 the company bought Oriel Foods, a food manufacturing and wholesaling business which the founders had briefly owned previously in the 1970s before they sold it to RCA Corporat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Gerald Gulliver
James Gerald Gulliver Royal Victorian Order, CVO FRSE FRSA FICE (17 August 1930 – 12 September 1996) was the founder of Argyll Foods, one of the United Kingdom's largest retail businesses. Career He was born in Campbeltown, Scotland, the son of successful grocer William Frederick Gulliver and Mary (née Lafferty). He was educated at Campbeltown Grammar School then studied at University of Glasgow and Georgia Institute of Technology, Gulliver served for three years in the Royal Navy before joining Urwick Orr & Partners, management consultants.James Gulliver Chairman of Food Group dies at 66 ''New York Times'', 17 September 1996 In 1965 he joined Fine Fare where he became chairman within two years. In 1977, together with Alistair Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presto (UK Supermarket)
Presto Foodmarkets was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in Great Britain, which first appeared in the early 1960s. While the fate of most of the chain's stores was conversion to Safeway, the final stores still trading as Presto were either closed or sold in 1998. History Early years The company was established in the north of England and in Scotland in the early 1960s where its primary base remained but for some years Presto did have a nationwide presence. According to the Institute of Grocery Distribution the name derives from the town of Prestonpans, the location in which the first Presto store was opened. A store also opened around the same time in the Preston Grange Estate in Preston, Tyne and Wear. Presto was a division of Allied Suppliers which also operated 500 Lipton supermarkets in England and Wales as well as the brands Galbraith and R & J Templeton with around 85 supermarkets in Scotland. Allied also operated a discount chain, Lo-Cost as well as Cor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debenhams
Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish department store chain Magasin du Nord. In its final years, its headquarters were within the premises of its flagship store in Oxford Street, London. The range of goods sold included middle-to-high-end clothing, beauty, household items, and furniture. The company suffered financial difficulties in the 21st century and entered administration twice, in April 2019 and April 2020. In November 2020, Debenhams' main concession operator Arcadia also entered administration, leading to the collapse of talks with JD Sports and Frasers Group over a potential rescue. As a result, Debenhams announced it would be liquidated. The Debenhams brand and website were purchased by the online retailer Boohoo for £55m in January 2021. However, Boohoo did not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cater Brothers
Cater Brothers was a supermarket chain based in the South East of England, which was later taken over and integrated into Presto chain owned by Allied Suppliers. History Cater Brothers Supermarkets was a natural progression for a family of butchers and greengrocers. Henry Charles Cater (1818-1868) was a pork merchant and latterly a pork butcher in the East End of London. Three of his four sons went on to become a cheesemonger, a grocer and a provisions merchant. Henry John Cater, one of Henry Charles's sons, is shown in the 1881 census as being a grocer in Bridge Street, Mile End. It was his five sons who took the business over after his death in 1919, with his son Erastus being appointed chairman of the board. By the start of the Second World War the business had around 30 stores. In 1956, Leslie Erastus, son of Erastus, had taken over the running of the business and was keen to move the company into the new self-service supermarket business. The first supermarket was opened in B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melia's Grocers And Tea Dealers
Melia's Grocers and Tea Dealers was a significant British retailer. Daniel Melia Melia's grocery and provisions store was founded by Daniel Melia of Manchester originally under the name ''Daniel Melia & Co. Ltd''. In 1896, it was formed into a limited company with a capital of £60,000 and 60 shops across the country. The company was wound up voluntarily in 1905. At Leamington on Monday 29 March 1896 Daniel Melia (trading as Melia and Co), "with branches in various parts of the country", was charged under the Merchandise Marks Act with having unlawfully applied a certain false trade description "English roll" to American roll bacon. The defence was substantially that the employer was not criminally responsible for the acts of his servant. The bench imposed the maximum penalty of £50, and allowed the costs of the prosecution. Defendant gave notice of appeal. Melia's Grocers ''Melia's Ltd'' became popular as a grocers and tea dealers from the 1920s to the 1960s alongside Maypole ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Goldsmith
Sir James Michael Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997) was a French-British financier, tycoon''Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith'' by Ivan Fallon and politician who was a member of the Goldsmith family. His controversial business and finance career led to ongoing clashes with British media, frequently involving litigation or the threat of litigation. In 1994 he was elected to represent a French constituency as a Member of the European Parliament. He founded the short-lived Eurosceptic Referendum Party in the United Kingdom, which became an early campaigner for opposition to Britain's membership of the European Union. Early life Born in Paris, Goldsmith was the son of luxury hotel tycoon and former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Major Frank Goldsmith and his French wife Marcelle Mouiller, and younger brother of environmental campaigner Edward Goldsmith. Frank Goldsmith had previously changed the family name from the German ''Goldschmidt'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
