Morleys Stores is a group of eight

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 ...

s in

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

, a

business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when: * A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...

furniture supply subsidiary called Morley's of Bicester Ltd and a department store & furniture centre called Camp Hopson of Newbury in Newbury,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. The group is named after the original store that opened in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

, south London as Morley & Lanceley. Note that the firm is unrelated to the London fast foods restaurant chain. In the year to January 2014 group profit was £5.6 million on turnover of £90.6 million.

Department stores

Morleys is a member of the

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

-based Associated Independent Stores buying group, the supplier of non-food goods to 350 companies with about 600 small and medium-sized independent outlets with textile and other non-food goods.

History

The

Brixton Road Brixton Road is a road in the London Borough of Lambeth (south London, England), leading from the Oval at Kennington to Brixton, where it forms the high street and then forks into Effra Road and Brixton Hill at St Matthew's church at the junction ...

shop originally traded as Morley & Lanceley. In 2009 Morleys bought Roomes Fashion and Home in Upminster and in 2010 it bought the Pearsons stores in Enfield and Bishop's Stortford. Smith Bros in Tooting was rebranded Morleys on 1 November 2010 and the Pearsons store in

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

, Hertfordshire closed during 2012. In November 2014, Morley's purchased Camp Hopson of Newbury which consists of a department store and furniture centre. In November 2016, it was confirmed that Morleys had signed up for its ninth store, taking over the vacated former

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, electron ...

premises at

Broadway Shopping Centre, Bexleyheath Broadway Shopping Centre, (branded as The Mall Bexleyheath from c. 2004 until reverting to its original name in 2009), is the principal covered shopping centre in the town centre of Bexleyheath and is the largest single covered shopping facility ...

. The new store opened in spring 2017. The list of current Morleys stores as at 2019 is as follows: * Bexleyheath - Morleys * Brixton - Morleys * Enfield - Pearsons * Holloway - Selby's (formerly James Selby) * Newbury - Camp Hopson * Tooting - Morleys (formerly Smith Bros of Tooting) * Upminster - Roomes * Wimbledon - Elys Former Morleys stores as of 2019 is as follows: * Ilford - Bodgers (Now closed)

Morley's of Bicester

In 1929 the Brixton store started selling contract furniture, eventually expanding and moving to Bicester. It acquired the similar businesses of Duncan Roberts Ltd in 2002 and Principal Furniture Ltd in 2005.

Camp Hopson of Newbury

In 1854 Joseph Hopson opened a furniture business on West Street, Newbury. In 1886, Alfred Camp opened a drapery bazaar on Northbrook Street. The business ran as separate entities until 1920, when Paul Hopson, grandson of Joseph, married the daughter of Alfred, Norah, and the companies were merged to form Camp Hopson.

References