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Conran's
Habitat (a trading name of Argos Limited), is a brand of household furnishings in the United Kingdom and the main homewares brand within the Sainsbury's group. Founded in 1964 by Sir Terence Conran, it merged with a number of other retailers in the 1980s to create Storehouse plc, before being sold to the Ikano Group, owned by the Kamprad family, in 1992. In December 2009, Habitat was bought by Hilco, a restructuring specialist. On 24 June 2011, the company was put into liquidation and all but three UK Habitat stores were closed in a deal to sell the indebted furniture chain, with the brand and the three London stores sold to Home Retail Group. In September 2016, UK retailer Sainsbury's bought Home Retail Group, including Argos and Habitat, for £1.4 billion (about $1.85 billion). History Beginning Sir Terence Conran founded Habitat in London in 1964, opening his own store to market his Summa range of furniture. The first store was opened in Fulham Road in Chelsea by Conran, h ...
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Terence Conran
Sir Terence Orby Conran (4 October 1931 – 12 September 2020) was an English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer. He founded the Design Museum in Shad Thames, London in 1989 The British designer Thomas Heatherwick said that Conran "moved Britain forward to make it an influence around the world." Edward Barber, from the British design team Barber & Osgerby, described Conran as "the most passionate man in Britain when it comes to design, and his central idea has always been 'Design is there to improve your life.'" The satirist Craig Brown once joked that before Conran "there were no chairs and no France." Early life and education Conran was born in Kingston upon Thames, the son of Christina Mabel Joan Conran (née Halstead, d.1968) and South African-born Gerard Rupert Conran (d.1986), a businessman who owned a rubber importation company in East London. Conran was educated at Highfield School in Liphook, Bryanston School in Dorset and the Central School of Art and Desi ...
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Storehouse Plc
Storehouse plc, traded as Storehouse, was a large UK retail business formed by Terence Conran through the merger of various high street chains. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index before it was renamed Mothercare in 2000. History The company was formed in 1986 by the merger of Habitat Mothercare PLC with British Home Stores PLC. The shareholders of BHS held 55% of the resulting company with Habitat Mothercare the remaining 45%. The resulting chain comprised British Home Stores (including their 50% stake in SavaCentre), Habitat, Conran's, Conran Design Group, Conran Studios, Mothercare (including Habitat Mothercare's 20% stake in Fnac and 50% stake in Conran Octopus Publishing), Richard Shops, NOW, Heal's, and The Conran Shop. 1987 saw the group start to expand with the establishment of the Anonymous retail chain, the launch of the firm's in-house credit card ; Storecard (in association with Citibank). Speculation in the C ...
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Private Limited Company
A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include the '' LLC'' in the United States, ''private company limited by shares'' in the United Kingdom, '' GmbH'' in Germany and Austria, ''société à responsabilité limitée'' in France, and ''sociedad de responsabilidad limitada'' in the Spanish-speaking world. The benefit of having a private limited company is that there is limited liability. However, shares can only be sold to shareholders in the business, which means that it can be difficult to liquidate such a company. Abbreviations Albania In Albania a limited liability company ( sq, Shoqëri me përgjegjësi të kufizuar Sh.p.k) is a commercial company founded by persons of physical or judicial status, who are not liable for the company and personally bear losses only up to the outstanding contribution agreeme ...
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Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea historically formed a manor and parish in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex, which became the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea in 1900. It merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington, forming the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea upon the creation of Greater London in 1965. The exclusivity of Chelsea as a result of its high property prices historically resulted in the coining of the term "Sloane Ranger" in the 1970s to describe some of its residents, and some of those of nearby areas. Chelsea is home to one of the largest communities of Americans living outside the United States, with 6.53% of Chelsea residents having been born in the U.S. History Early history The word ''Chelsea'' (also formerly ''Chelceth'', ''Chelchith' ...
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The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, which is owned by News Corp. Times Newspapers also publishes ''The Times''. The two papers were founded independently and have been under common ownership since 1966. They were bought by News International in 1981. ''The Sunday Times'' has a circulation of just over 650,000, which exceeds that of its main rivals, including ''The'' ''Sunday Telegraph'' and ''The'' ''Observer'', combined. While some other national newspapers moved to a tabloid format in the early 2000s, ''The Sunday Times'' has retained the larger broadsheet format and has said that it would continue to do so. As of December 2019, it sells 75% more copies than its sister paper, ''The Times'', which is published from Monday to Saturday. The paper publishes ''The Sunday Ti ...
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British Home Stores
British Home Stores, commonly abbreviated to BHS and latterly legally styled BHS Ltd, was a British department store chain, primarily selling clothing and household items. In its later years, the company began to expand into furniture, electronics, entertainment, convenience groceries and fragrance and beauty products. The company was founded in 1928 by a group of U.S. entrepreneurs, and had a total of 163 stores mainly located in high streets or shopping centres by the time of its closure in 2016, as well as 74 international stores across 18 separate territories. BHS was previously a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but was bought by Sir Philip Green in 2000 and taken private. The company became part of Green's Arcadia Group in 2009. Following a number of loss-making years, the company was sold to the consortium Retail Acquisitions Ltd led by the serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell, in March 2015 for the nominal price of £1. In April 2016, 13 months after the purchase by Ret ...
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Richard Shops
Richard Shops was a British high street retailer of women's fashion. History The business was created in 1936 by John Sofio, who modelled the business on the US company Learner Brothers. The company was bankrupt by 1941 and was purchased by Charles Clore for £45,000, who subsequently expanded the business before selling it on for £800,000 in 1949 to United Drapery Stores. Richards was managed by Rudy Weil until his retirement in the mid-1970s. From the 1960s to the 1990s, an expansion of the number of stores saw it as a ubiquitous part of almost every British high street and shopping centre, selling fashion clothing designed to appeal to young women. In the 1970s a hugely popular television advertisement began to appear with a memorable jingle, also used for radio advertisements on Capital Radio. In 1983 UDS was sold to Hanson plc. Hanson started selling off parts if UDS to pay for its purchase. Fellow UDS bedfellow John Collier was purchased in a management buyout, but R ...
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Heal's
Heal's ("Heal and Son Ltd") is a British furniture retail company comprising seven stores, selling a range of furniture, lighting and home accessories. For over two centuries, it has been known for promoting modern design and employing talented young designers. History The original Heal's firm was established in 1810 as a feather-dressing business by John Harris Heal and his son. In 1818, the business moved to Tottenham Court Road, London and expanded into bedding, bedstead and furniture manufacture and into retailing. By the end of the nineteenth century it was one of the best-known furniture suppliers in London. In the early 20th century Heal's was one of the first retailers to bring electric lighting to the British market. During the second world war the factory at Tottenham Court Road was converted to produce parachutes. Heal's featured at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and in 1977 restored the banqueting table at Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. A ...
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Mothercare
Mothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to eight years of age. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Mothercare's United Kingdom subsidiary had over 150 stores in 2017, but by 2019 the number had been reduced to 79. In November 2019, the subsidiary was placed into administration, which led to closure of all the stores. Mothercare-branded products continue to be sold by Boots and the parent company continues to supply franchisees in other countries. History The company was founded by Selim Zilkha and Sir James Goldsmith in 1961. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1972. In 1982, the company merged with Habitat to form Habitat Mothercare plc. In 1986, Habitat Mothercare plc merged with British Home Stores, to form Storehouse plc. In January 1996, it bought Children's World from Boots,
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London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. Since 2007, it has been part of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG, that it also lists ()). The LSE was the most-valued stock exchange in Europe from 2003 when records began till Autumn 2022, when the Paris exchange was briefly larger, until the LSE retook its position as Europe’s largest stock exchange 10 days later. History Coffee House The Royal Exchange had been founded by English financier Thomas Gresham and Sir Richard Clough on the model of the Antwerp Bourse. It was opened by Elizabeth I of England in 1571. During the 17th century, stockbrokers were not allowed in the Royal Exchange due to their rude manners. They had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, notably Jona ...
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Ryman
Ryman is a stationery retail company with 205 outlets nationwide in the United Kingdom. The website and stores provide a wide range of stationery and office supplies for homes and businesses, with its headquarters in Crewe, Cheshire. History Formation Henry J Ryman opened his first store as a book printer on Great Portland Street, London in 1893, that is still open today. Quickly changing the focus to selling stationery, the business was successfully owned and managed by the Ryman family for several generations. Jack Ryman succeeded Henry in 1931, until he passed it on to his own sons, Desmond and Nicholas, in 1951. At the time that Desmond and Nicholas assumed control from father, the company comprised eleven shops. Expansion followed, along with the introduction of self-service counters and during their ownership, turnover rose from £250,000 to £16 million. Upon selling the company, Nicholas moved to France to become a vigneron.Nick Ryman, Vigneron - Obituary. ''The Da ...
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