Beatties was a small British department store group located primarily in the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

of England. In 2005, when it had 12 stores, the group was acquired by

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 ...

. On 14 January 2006, the Birmingham store closed, because a similar House of Fraser store, Rackhams, was not far away. In August 2007, the Telford store was rebranded, along with the Solihull and

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...

stores.New store loses Beatties name : Express & Star:
{{Dead link, date=December 2012 The group gradually rebranded all its branches under the House of Fraser name. In January 2010 the Dudley branch was closed. On 7 June 2018, it was announced that the last branch which had retained the Beatties name, the former head office in Wolverhampton, was to close in 2019.Penfold, Simo
140 years of city history faces the end with Beatties closure
Express & Star, Wolverhampton, 7 June 2018. Retrieved on 7 June 2018. Former Beatties-branded House of Fraser stores in Aylesbury, Birkenhead, Telford and Worcester were also announced to close.House of Fraser to close 31 stores
BBC Business, 7 June 2018. Retrieved on 7 June 2018. Despite the CVA, Mike Ashley started saving stores on the basis of whether they could cut rent to achieve a specific margin. The Telford branch proposed closure was repealed on 23 August 2018, the first to be repealed. As of December 2018, all ‘Beatties’ currently trading are announced to be remaining open.

History

Beatties was founded in 1877 and had grown from a small family drapery business in Wolverhampton to a department store with an excellent reputation for customer service. The Company Policy (known as the Four Corners of Responsibility) stated that the responsibility to the customer was

"To provide the customer with a good range of well chosen, good value merchandise. To offer this to the public in attractive surroundings, backed by pleasant and effective service, and in an atmosphere of complete integrity and responsibility. To demonstrate at all times a genuine desire to please".

On joining Beatties, each member of staff (known as a "Member") was presented with a "Members' Guide" to provide members with information about the company and its policies, the condition of service offered, the facilities available and the rules to be followed.

Staff structure

General Manager (GM), Assistant General Manager (AGM), Personnel Manager (PM), Department Sales Manager (DSM), Assistant Sales Manager (ASM), Loss Prevention Officer (Plain Clothes Security), Sales Assistants, Deck Service Personnel (Warehouse and Delivery), Catering Personnel (for Staff and Customer Restaurant) Managers at Department level and above were known as Grade 1 members. Managers at Assistant Manager level were known as Grade 2 members. As well as Beatties own staff the store also employed concession managers and staff. The majority of these were in Perfumery and Ladies fashions but there were also a number of Jewellery concessions.

Department store locations

All stores now trade as House of Fraser, except the former Wolverhampton flagship store which is currently empty following the opening of Frasers in the former Debenhams department store in the Mander Centre. *

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

* Huddersfield, West Yorkshire * Solihull,

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

* Telford, Shropshire * Wolverhampton,

* Worcester, Worcestershire

Former locations

* Birmingham,

(closed January 2006) * Burton upon Trent,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

(closed September 2012) * Dudley,

(closed January 2010; building now partly occupied by Iceland) *

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, Northamptonshire (closed 2014; building now occupied by Next and Primark) * Birkenhead (closed March 2020)

References

External links

Official site
Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom House of Fraser Buildings and structures in Wolverhampton British companies established in 1877