Unwins was a

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

-based chain of 381

off-licence A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged liquors – typically in bottles – usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence (i ...

s selling alcoholic beverages, with outlets focused on

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and the

South East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

. Unwins was founded in 1843, and went

insolvent In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

on 19 December 2005. 200 of the former Unwin stores were subsequently sold to rival

Thresher Group First Quench Retailing was the largest independent off-licence retail chain in the UK, with around 1,300 shops operating under several retail brands, though all have now been closed. At the time of First Quench's closure, these included the Thresh ...

History

Unwins was founded as a family-owned and run business in 1843, in Kent. It remained in family ownership until March 2005, when it was sold to

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

firm DM for £32 million. With Unwins being based primarily in London and the south-east of England, the fate of its fortunes suffered from its restrictve geography. With the advent of the '

booze cruise In British slang, a booze cruise is a brief trip from Britain to France or Belgium with the intent of taking advantage of lower prices, and buying personal supplies of (especially) alcohol or tobacco in bulk quantities. This is a legally allowe ...

' cut-price cross-channel ferries (along with, to a lesser extent, '' LeShuttle'' operating through the Channel Tunnel) allowing Unwins' target market ready access to a vast array of high quality, and popular brands of

French wine French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and Amer ...

s along with beers and spirits – all by the case loads, at rock-bottom cash-and-carry prices – this put an untenable strain on both the business model, and their long-term future profitability. On 19 December 2005, Unwins collapsed and went into

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet ...

, with, at the time, the closure of 381 stores and the loss of 1,800 Unwins staff jobs. Accountancy firm

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

were appointed as joint administrators, and they were able to sell 200 former Unwins stores to rival firm and

First Quench Retailing First Quench Retailing was the largest independent off-licence retail chain in the UK, with around 1,300 shops operating under several retail brands, though all have now been closed. At the time of First Quench's closure, these included the Thresh ...

-owned Thresher Group, and intended saving 1,200 former jobs. It was reported that the ultimate downfall of Unwins was due to its failure to adapt and evolve its offerings to the needs and requirements of the current market trends. Thresher Group, which then already had around 2,000 UK stores, including Wine Rack, Victoria Wines and Bottoms Up – were to convert its 200 Unwins stores into the Threshers brand. Thresher Group having completed the integration of the Unwins stores into its South East England estate found itself in a similar situation to the company it had partially rescued and First Quench the holding company entered administration 29 October 2009. KPMG were appointed as joint administrators.

References

* Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1843 Retail companies established in 1843 Retail companies disestablished in 2005 1843 establishments in England 2005 disestablishments in England {{London-stub