Schreiber was a

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

fitted kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a ...

and

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

operating in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Started in 1957 by Chaim Schreiber to make furniture, Schreiber became an extremely successful brand in furniture from the 1960s to the early 1970s, challenging both Harris Lebus and Gomme for domination. In the 1970s it became vertically integrated by opening its own furniture centres. The company merged with GEC in the 1970s. Schreiber was later bought out by the

MFI Group MFI Group Limited was a British furniture retailer, operating under the MFI brand. The company was one of the largest suppliers of kitchens and bedroom furniture in the United Kingdom, and operated mainly in retail parks in out of town locations ...

, and on MFI's bankruptcy in 2008, the brand rights were bought by the

Home Retail Group Home Retail Group plc was a home and general merchandise retailer based in the United Kingdom. It was the parent company of Argos and Habitat, and once owned the do it yourself chain Homebase before selling it to the Australian retailer Wesfarme ...

in 2009. In 2016, the Home Retail Group was purchased by the UK retailer

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

, who quietly dropped the Schreiber brand the following year in 2017.

History

Early years

In 1957, Chaim Schreiber, a Polish refugee immigrant who made radio cabinets for

Dansette Dansette was a British brand of record players, radiograms, tape recorders, and radio sets, manufactured by the London firm of J & A Margolin Ltd, Record player The first Dansette record player was manufactured in 1952 and at least one million w ...

and other larger electrical manufacturers, bought the bankrupt furniture business Lubetkin and re-branded it under his own name, Schreiber.

Expansion

Schreiber was hugely successful in the 1960s and 1970s, challenging Lebus and Gomme for domination. It was a major manufacturer of bedroom furniture in the 1960s at the value end of the market. It bought the more upmarket competitor Greaves and Thomas in 1967.

Vertical integration

In 1970, Schreiber's turnover overtook that of arch-rival Gomme, helped by the failure of its even bigger competitor Harris Lebus the previous year. Schreiber introduced both new upholstered furniture and bedroom furniture in 1973. It also started selling fitted kitchens, ensuring that it offered something for the whole house. Schreiber also opened Schreiber Furniture Centres, which were 3,500 sq ft in size stocking 4,000 products. It invited retail traders to bid for their shops to become its new centres, and 280 opened out of 800 applications.

Merger with GEC

In 1973 turnover was double that of 1971, but trade started to suffer thereafter. Chaim Schreiber tried and aborted flotation attempts on the stock market of the company in 1972 and 1973,Evening Standard, 6 August 1974. and by 1974 the company was in need of cash. A merger was proposed by Sir Arnold Weinstock of GEC between Schreiber Wood Industries and British Domestic Appliances (BDA), better known as the company behind

Hotpoint Hotpoint is a British brand of domestic appliances. Ownership of the brand is split between American company Whirlpool, which has the rights in Europe, and Chinese company Haier, which has the rights in the Americas through its purchase of GE A ...

and

Morphy Richards Morphy Richards is a British brand of electrical appliances headquartered in Swinton, in South Yorkshire, England. Its products were formerly made at its historic home of Mexborough, and in other facilities across the United Kingdom. However, si ...

.The Risk Business. (1981) BBC One Television, 30 October 1981. GEC placed BDA in a new subsidiary company called GEC-Schreiber Limited and Schreiber also came under the ownership of that company. GEC held 62.5% of the resulting business, with Chaim Schreiber holding 27.5%.Evening Standard, 7 August 1974. This merger took place in August 1974, and by the end of that financial year, the combined group returned a small profit. It was noted that in 1974 Schreiber were the largest producer of domestic furniture in the UK.The General Electric Company Limited (1975) Report and Accounts 31 March 1975. Available online a

Accessed 16 August 2019. In 1978 the company completed a new factory in

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. The empty shell had been completed in 1974 to designs of Peter Carmichael of Runcorn Development Corporation Architects Department, and the finished factory was completed by him as partner in the architectural firm; Brock Carmichael Associates.RibaPix. RIBApix ref no. RIBA88474 - Schreiber factory phase 1, Astmoor Industrial Estate, Runcorn. Available online a

Accessed 28 April 2017. (The factory is now a supply depot for

Howdens Joinery Howden Joinery Group plc is the multinational parent company for the Howdens Joinery business (Howdens) based in London, England. It is a supplier of kitchens and joinery products to the building trade. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, a ...

). In April 1982, the company sold Morphy Richards for £5 million to a holding company owned by The Throgmorton Trust, Capital for Industry. In 1983, GEC Schreiber Limited was reconstructed, such that Hotpoint returned to being under the sole ownership of GEC and Schreiber Industries returned to being owned by the Schreiber family.The General Electric Company plc. (1983) Review of Operations. Available online a

Accessed 16 August 2019.

Bought by the MFI Group

Schreiber was acquired by the

in November 1988, and it sat alongside MFI's other well known household brands.The Scotsman (2005)
MFI dismantles businesses to make life more comfortable
The Scotsman, 1 December 2005.

Home Retail Group acquisition

After MFI went into administration in 2008, the Schreiber Furniture brand together with the

Hygena Hygena is a dormant brand of fitted kitchen and furniture in the United Kingdom. Started in Liverpool in 1925 to make Hoosier cabinets, it was bought by new investors in 1938, who after the war built modular kitchens for the new British pos ...

UK and Irish brand rights were bought by the

, the owner of

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

and

Homebase Homebase is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre with stores across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, unti ...

, in 2009 and relaunched through those chains.

Purchase by Sainsbury's

In April 2016, Home Retail Group agreed to a £1.4bn takeover by UK retailer

, including the rights to the Schreiber brand. The acquisition was completed on 2 September 2016. Sainsbury's quietly dropped the Schreiber brand in 2017, and integrated it into the Argos Home range.

Operations

The Schreiber brand was owned by Sainsbury's and its products were sold in the United Kingdom through

stores and the Argos website. Following the 2016 sale of Homebase to

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

, all Schreiber branding was removed from both the Homebase stores and the Homebase website in mid-2017 when the agreement with Home Retail Group expired. The Schreiber brand itself was subsequently dropped and replaced with the Argos Home range in 2017.

References

External links

Schreiber at ArgosChaim Schreiber's Way by Avital Schreiber Levy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schreiber British furniture makers Kitchen manufacturers British brands 1957 establishments in England British companies established in 1957 Manufacturing companies established in 1957 Sainsbury's