Arnotts was a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It became part of the

House of Fraser House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it w ...

and one of their group brands. Former Arnotts Paisley

History

The store was opened by

John Arnott Sir John Arnott, 1st Baronet JP (26 July 1814 – 28 March 1898) was a Scottish-Irish entrepreneur and a major figure in the commercial and political spheres of late-19th century Cork. He was also founder of the Arnotts department chain. Backg ...

as a subsidiary of Arnott, Cannock & Co of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1850 in Jamaica Street as a drapery. During 1886 the partnership between Arnott and Cannock was dissolved and Thomas Arnott, half brother of John, ran the store under the name of Arnott & Co.. In 1864, the building was acquired from the trustees of the

City of Glasgow Bank The City of Glasgow Bank was a bank in Scotland that was largely known for its spectacular collapse in October 1878, which ruined all but 254 of its 1,200 shareholders since their liability was unlimited. History The bank was founded in 1839 wi ...

, expanding the store so by 1874 it was a department store. In 1891 the business was incorporated and by 1906 the store frontage was remodelled. During the 1920s and 30s the Company started to struggle and in 1936, Fraser, Sons & Co Ltd bought the business and created a new Arnott & Co company. Frasers modernised the store with the second and third floor being opened up to showroom space and adding of an elevator. In 1938, it was merged by Frasers with neighbour Robert Simpson & Co, who they had also purchased in 1936, to create Arnott Simpson Ltd. The two stores were reconstructed as one. In 1947, the Company Arnott-Simpsons was liquidated, along with Fraser, Sons & Co and the store became a trading name of the

. Further department stores acquired by House of Fraser were re-branded as Arnott Simpson until the Arnotts trading name was adopted for the majority of the group's stores in Scotland, including the acquired T. Baird & Sons group, and two of the House of Fraser's seven

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

stores (including

Patrick Thomson Patrick Thomson was a department store located at the southern end of North Bridge in Edinburgh. In 1952, its parent company the Scottish Drapery Corporation was purchased by House of Fraser. History Patrick Thomson opened a small haberdashery ...

). House of Fraser closed its last remaining Arnotts store, that in Paisley (formerly Robert Cochran & Sons purchased 1964), in January 2004.

References

{{reflist, 2 Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom History of Glasgow House of Fraser