![Jenners (4946392982)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Jenners_%284946392982%29.jpg)
Jenners is a former well-established
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 ...
in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, Scotland, situated on
Princes Street. It was Scotland's oldest independent department store until the retail business was acquired by
House of Fraser in 2005.
It closed in December 2020 at the
Scottish Government COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
lockdown
A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison ...
and was vacated by House of Fraser in May 2021. The building will eventually be restored.
History
![Jenners department store](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Jenners_department_store.jpg)
Jenners was founded as "Kennington & Jenner" in 1838 by Charles Jenner
FRSE (1810–1893), a linen draper, and
Charles Kennington. The store has never left its site on Princes Street, but its original building was destroyed by fire in 1892. In 1893 the Scottish architect
William Hamilton Beattie was appointed to design a replacement, which subsequently opened in 1895. At Charles Jenner's insistence the building's facade was decorated with rows of female
caryatids "to show symbolically that women are the support of the house". The new store featured many technical innovations such as electric lighting and hydraulic lifts, and is now a category A
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
Jenners was run for many years by the Douglas-Miller family, descendants of James Kennedy, who took charge of the store after Charles Jenner retired in 1881.
Known as the "
Harrods of the North", it has held a
Royal Warrant since 1911, and was visited by
Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of its 150th anniversary in 1988. The store made national news in 2007 when it publicly announced that it would stop selling
paté de foie gras, following a boycott by the
Duke and Duchess of Hamilton.
Sale to House of Fraser
![Edinburgh Jenners01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Edinburgh_Jenners01.jpg)
On 16 March 2005 it was announced that the Douglas-Miller family were in advanced negotiations to sell the business to the
House of Fraser, at an estimated price of £100–200 million, but a month later it was sold for £46.1 million.
While other acquisitions by House of Fraser had been renamed, Jenners kept its identity. In 2008, House of Fraser invested £3 million in improvements to the store. As a result of this, in 2016 the basement toy department was rebranded under the
Hamleys
Hamleys is a British multinational toy retailer, owned by Reliance Retail. The world's oldest toy store, it was founded by William Hamley as "Noah's Ark" in High Holborn, London, in 1760. It moved to its current site on Regent Street in London's ...
name, before being closed in 2019.
The lease of the building remained with the Jenners holding company JPSE Ltd, owned by the Douglas-Miller family. In August 2005 it was sold to Moorcroft Capital Management, owned by Jenners' former chief executive Robbie Douglas-Miller. In 2017 the building was bought by Danish billionaire fashion retailer and landowner in Scotland
Anders Holch Povlsen, reportedly for £53 million.
In late 2019 it was reported that the business was considering reducing its size or moving from Princes Street.
[
]
Department store closure
In January 2021, it was announced that Jenners was closing and 200 jobs would be lost. The Jenners signage was removed from the Princes Street building on 14 April 2021, reportedly to the surprise of the owners of the building. Edinburgh City Council
The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland.
In its current form, the counci ...
issued a Listed Building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
enforcement notice on 21 April 2021 to Sports Direct
Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...
Retail, the Mike Ashley company that owns the Frasers Group
Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...
, to reinstate the Jenners letters on the eastern and southern sides of the department store, as these had been removed without listed building consent. In May 2021, it was announced that the restoration of the building will take four years, and that the store was planned to reopen without the House of Fraser livery once redevelopment had completed.
Proposed hotel conversion
In June 2022, AAA United, the company owned by Anders Holch Povlsen, was granted planning permission to convert the building to a 96-room hotel. Under the plans, the three-storey central atrium would be retained, as would the Jenners signage. The hotel rooms would occupy the upper floors, with new retail use, restaurants and cafés at the lower levels, and a new roof-top bar.
Loch Lomond Shores
The Jenners store in the Loch Lomond Shores outlet in Balloch remains in operation. However is now marked as a dual Frasers and Sports Direct
Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...
store, all branding from Jenners is practically absent.
Stores
Jenners had two shops in 2020:
* Princes Street, Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
*Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond (; gd, Loch Laomainn - 'Lake of the Elms'Richens, R. J. (1984) ''Elm'', Cambridge University Press.) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of C ...
Shores
Jenners previously had stores at Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by ...
and Glasgow International Airport
gd, Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu
, image = Glasgow Airport logo.svg
, image-width = 200
, image2 = GlasgowAirportFromAir.jpg
, image2-width = 250
, IATA = GLA
, ICAO = EGPF
, type = Public
, owner = AGS Airports
, hub =
*easy ...
that closed following a decision announced in April 2007. Jenners said that security measures introduced in UK airports following the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot
The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives, carried aboard airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada, disguised as soft drinks. The plot was discovered by British ...
had led to a significant downturn in trade at the shops."Jenners closes Edinburgh and Glasgow airport shops"
, UK Airport News, 22 April 2007
See also
*
Queen Victoria Building
The Queen Victoria Building (abbreviated as the QVB) is a heritage-listed late-nineteenth-century building designed by the architect George McRae located at 429–481 George Street in the Sydney central business district, in the Australian st ...
*
Harrods
*
Forsyth's
References
External links
![Jenners entrance with locked gates](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Jenners_entrance_with_locked_gates.jpg)
*
Official website
{{Buildings and Structures in Edinburgh
Department stores of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Edinburgh
House of Fraser
Service companies of Scotland
Retail companies established in 1838
British Royal Warrant holders
Scottish brands
Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh
New Town, Edinburgh
1838 establishments in Scotland
Department store buildings in the United Kingdom
Sports Direct