More Shopping Histories from the High Street

A few more shopping histories today to complete the set!

I mentioned C&A the other day in Swinging Sixties fashion shows

C&A was a chain of fashion retail clothing stores which evolved from a textiles company founded by two Dutch brothers, Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer, in 1841.

The UK shops were started in the 1920s and had a strong High Street presence which expanded into out-of-town stores.

​However, the brand became associated with cheap clothes and lost popularity and by 2001 all 109 UK branches of C&A had closed with the loss of 4000 jobs.

Another store which closed dramatically with the loss of many jobs was British Home Stores or BHS as it was re-branded in the 1980s.

The last purchase I made in a BHS store was a pair of pale blue hand towels in about 2007. That was at an out-of-town BHS and I don’t think I ever went in the store again after that.

The first branch of the British Home Stores was opened in Brixton in 1928 as a British owned alternative to Woolworths. The business expanded steadily and by the 1960s had over 90 branches. The post-1980s development of BHS is widely documented on the Internet as is speculation about the causes of its decline.

Some commentators have said the end of BHS will kick-start a regeneration of the High Street. With the explosion of on-line shopping I can’t see how!

The end of BHS in 2016 came only days after the decision to close the majority of fashion retailer Austin Reed stores with the loss of over 1000 jobs.

​Founded in 1900, the Austin Reed brand was synonymous with stylish tailoring for decades. In the 1960s my dad yearned for an Austin Reed suit but could only afford to go to Burtons.
Watching this fantastic video for a flavour of the stores, their history and style I can see why he was so keen….

I wonder if you remember Freeman, Hardy and Willis, a High Street shoe retailer which in its hey-day had over 500 UK branches.

The company was established in 1876 by Leicester boot and shoe manufacturer, Edward Wood whose first company commenced boot and shoe manufacture in 1870. Wood named his new company after the surnames of three employees: his manager; his architect; and his commercial traveller.

The first branch of Freeman, Hardy and Willis was opened in Wandsworth, London in 1877. By 1921, when Sir Edward Wood retired as Chairman, the company owned 428 shops.

In 1927 the company was acquired by J. Sears and Co. and became, by the mid-1950s, the nucleus of the British Shoe Corporation. This went on to own Trueform, Curtess, Dolcis, Manfield, Saxone and Lilley & Skinner shoe shops in addition to Freeman, Hardy and Willis.

During the early 1960s the bags used to wrap the shoes were imprinted with the FHW letters and the slogan For Happy Walking.

In the early 1990s the British Shoe Corporation converted approximately half of the 540 Freeman, Hardy and Willis branches into Hush Puppies shops and sold off the remainder.

By 1996 all branches of Freeman, Hardy and Willis had closed.

When Mr and Mrs HW Smith were starting up their shop in 1792 they could easily have walked past the premises of William Clark at 44, Wigmore Street which was only about ten minutes walk distant. William Clark was a draper who sold fabrics, bonnets, gloves and parasols. He opened his shop in 1778 but over thirty years later, in 1813, he went into partnership with William Debenham and the shop was re-named Clark and Debenham.

The firm prospered although Clark was replaced by Mr Freebody to form Debenham and Freebody’s in 1851. By 1919 the company was global with many stores and business interests. An amalgamation with Marshall and Snelgrove and acquisition of Harvey Nick’s lead to further expansion. By 1950 Debenham’s had 84 companies and 110 stores and was the largest department store group in the UK.  At the present time Debenhams has 240 stores in 27 countries.

I didn’t realise that Littlewoods stores and catalogue shopping were part of the same family business that started Littlewoods football pools in the 1920s. The mailing addresses from the football pools were used to target potential customers for the retail catalogues. Groups of customers formed into ‘clubs’ with a local agent processing orders, delivering goods, collecting payments and receiving commission. The business was so successful that the company moved into bricks and mortar selling in 1937. By the 1980s Littlewoods was the largest family owned company in the UK with over 20,000 employees. However, the catalogues were doomed once internet shopping was established and many of the stores became unviable and were sold on to various other companies.