Vergo Retail Ltd was a

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 ...

business based in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England, founded in 2007. Vergo Retail ran 20 shops, consisting of nine department stores, including Lewis's of Liverpool,

Robbs Robbs was a mid-size department store in Hexham, latterly owned by Beales. It was established in 1818 by William Robb a lace trader from Fife and subsequently managed for the next 169 years in an unbroken father to son line for six generations ...

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

Joplings Joplings was a department store, located in Sunderland, England, which was part of the former Vergo Retail Ltd. group of department stores. History The store was established in 1804 by James Jopling and soon he went into partnership with Josep ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and Derrys of

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and four others in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

; four Homemaker stores in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, four home and fashion stores in Essex and Suffolk; two home stores in Essex; and a jewellery store in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

. The company entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

in 2010.

History

Vergo Retail was formed in May 2007 in order to acquire Lewis's, Robbs and Joplings from Owen Owen Ltd which was in administration. The company was owned by David Thompson, the owner of Owen Owen and a former director of Mothercare,

Habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

and British Home Stores, and later director and shareholder of

MK One MK One was a British fashion retailer. History Beginnings as Mark One The company was founded in the 1980s by Mark Brafman, Les Lucy and Alan Simons as Mark One, and became a discount womenswear retailer. In February 1996, Mark One was bou ...

which was sold in 2004 for £55m. In 2009 Vergo Retail entered a further phase of growth, acquiring the department store operations of two co-operative societies. First, in February 2009,

Plymouth and South West Co-operative Society Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op, is a British consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses including food retail, wholesale, e-pharmacy, insurance and legal services, and funeral care. The Co-operative Group has over ...

(Plymco) agreed to sell its non-food business to Vergo. This consisted of Derrys department store in Plymouth, and four Homemaker stores in Devon and Cornwall. Vergo Retail took control of these stores on 15 March 2009. Secondly, on 16 June 2009, it was announced that Vergo Retail would take over the East of England Co-operative Society department stores at sites in

and

, with the 350 current staff employed by the East of England Co-operative expected to keep their jobs during the transfer. Department stores in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

, Clacton-on-Sea and

, along with six specialist home stores and one jewellery store, were transferred to Vergo Retail on 4 July 2009 with the East of England Co-operative Society retaining the freehold.

Decline and administration

On 22 January 2010 it was announced that Lewis's of Liverpool was to close by June 2010 as the lease from the landlords, Merepark, expired then and it could not be renewed owing to a planned redevelopment of the building. As a result, a closing down sale was launched to sell around £5 million of stock, as well as fixtures and fittings. Vergo's head office, which was also located in the Renshaw Street premises, would continue to operate from there in the short term until alternative accommodation was available. Inside Lewis's Department Store, Liverpool 080410

Inside Lewis's Department Store, Liverpool 080410

On 7 May 2010 Vergo was placed into administration, with MCR appointed as the administrators. From 11 May 2010, 335 staff were made redundant and it was announced that there would be ten store closures within the next four weeks unless a buyer was found. These were Lewis's of Liverpool (already scheduled for closure), Robbs of Hexham, Joplings of Sunderland, Derry's of Plymouth, the "Fashion, Home & More!" stores in Witham, Clacton-on-Sea, Stowmarket and Dovercourt, the department store in Norwich and The Jewellery Store in Colchester. This left ten stores open, namely the Homemaker stores in Kingsteignton, Launceston, Exmouth and Cothill (Plymouth); the Vergo at Home stores at Stanway (Colchester) and Clacton-on-Sea; the "Fashion Home & More!" store in Felixstowe and the Ipswich, Great Yarmouth and Colchester department stores. By 21 May 2010, Beales had lodged a formal notice of interest in Robbs of Hexham, whilst the administrators asked the Buccleuch Group, owners of the building, and

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is a unitary authority in North East England. The population of the non-metropolitan unitary authority at the 2011 census was 316,028. History It was formed in 1889 as the council for the administrative county of N ...

to waive rent and rates for ten weeks, to allow the business to be continued to be marketed as a going concern. On 25 May 2010 it was announced that closing down sales would begin at all stores in the chain, managed by

Hilco Hilco Global is an American financial services holding company. It operates over twenty businesses and specializes in asset valuation, advisory, monetization, and disposition services. Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, it has offices th ...

, and Lewis's would close on Saturday 29 May. By this point the Dovercourt store had closed and 341 staff had been made redundant across the chain. The administrators continued to negotiate with various potential purchasers, who were interested in all or part of the business. The sales were to ensure that there was sufficient cash to fund the business in the short term. One of these parties was revealed to be Chris Dawson, owner of The Range, who said "I am interested in a few of the stores, parts of the group and all of the stock." Tony Brown, chief executive of Beales, confirmed that he was still interested in Robbs and Beales acquired Robbs on 4 June for £250,000. By 26 June 2010 just four stores remained open, and these closed within a week. Both the East of England Co-operative Society and the Co-operative Group offered their former employees compensation packages, despite not being legally obliged to do so. In January 2011 Metis Partners was appointed to sell brand assets, including the Derrys, Joplings, Lewis's and Owen Owen names and related

domain names A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

. The company was dissolved in August 2014.

Stores

At its peak there were twenty Vergo stores operating in five divisions. {, class="wikitable" , - ! Store Name !! Type , - , Derrys of

, , Department Store , - ,

, , Department Store , - , Lewis's of

, , Department Store , - ,

, , Department Store , - , Clacton-on-Sea , , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - , Dovercourt , , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - ,

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. His ...

, , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - , Stowmarket , , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - , Witham , , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - , Cothill (Plymouth) , , Homemaker , - ,

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of town ...

, , Homemaker , - , Kingsteignton , , Homemaker , - , Launceston , , Homemaker , - , Clacton-on-Sea , , Vergo at Home , - , Stanway (Colchester) , , Vergo at Home , - , Colchester , , The Jewellery Store

References

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20100204105413/http://vergoretail.co.uk/
Vergo Retail website Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in Liverpool British companies established in 2007 Retail companies established in 2007 Retail companies disestablished in 2010