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Barrow's Stores, also known as Barrow's, was an upmarket
Barrow's Stores, also known as Barrow's, was an upmarket 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 ...
located in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, England.
History
Barrow's Stores was originally started byRichard Cadbury
Richard Barrow Cadbury (29 August 1835 – 22 March 1899) was an English entrepreneur, chocolate-maker and philanthropist. He was the second son of the Quaker John Cadbury, founder of Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company.
Together with his ...
, of the Cadbury family
The Cadbury family is a wealthy British family of Quaker industrialists descending from Richard Tapper Cadbury.
* Richard Tapper Cadbury (1768–1860) draper and abolitionist, who financed his sons' start-up business
**John Cadbury (1801–1889) ...
. Richard opened a small drapery store in 1794 in Bull Street. By 1824 the Cadbury family opened a new shop next door selling tea, coffee and cocoa.
However, in 1849 John Cadbury
John Cadbury (12 August 1801 – 11 May 1889) was a Quaker and English proprietor, tea and coffee trader and founder of Cadbury, the chocolate business based in Birmingham, England.
Life
John Cadbury was born in Birmingham on 12 August 1801 t ...
transferred the business to his cousin Richard Cadbury Barrow so they could concentrate on the manufacture of chocolate. The business was renamed Barrow's Stores.
By 1905 the store had been rebuilt with a new cafe on the first floor for the customers to try the companies products, and had numerous departments from glass & china to food. The business use to provide Christmas lists with lists of good available for customers to purchase, while their fleet of vehicles use to deliver goods across Birmingham and to areas such as Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
& Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...
.
In the 1960s Barrow's moved from their location on the corner of Bull Street and Corporation Street to a smaller store on Corporation Street opposite Lewis', where the new store concentrated on food. The business was purchased by Fitch Lovell
Fitch Lovell was a British food manufacturing, transportation, distribution and retail company with origins dating to 1784, and was finally merged into Booker Group in 1991 after they had purchased it in 1990 for £279.7 million.
Early history
Fi ...
in 1964, and in December 1973 merged Barrow's into its supermarket chain Key Markets
''Key Markets'' is the eighth studio album by British post-punk duo Sleaford Mods. It was released on 24 July 2015, through Harbinger Sound. The tracks are critical of the UK government.
Reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating ...
.
His fascination for Barrow's led J.R.R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
to name his student club T.C.B.S. (acronym for: Tea Club and Barrovian Society) after the store.
References
{{Authority control Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Retail companies of England British companies established in 1849 Retail companies established in 1849 Retail companies disestablished in 1973 1849 establishments in England 1973 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1973 Delicatessens in the United Kingdom Luxury brands Food retailers of the United Kingdom Department store buildings in the United Kingdom