![]() | |
Company type | Retail |
---|---|
Founded | 2003 |
Defunct | 2009 |
Fate | Absorbed into Poundstretcher |
Headquarters | Huddersfield, England, United Kingdom |
Number of employees | 5,000 |
...instore was a chain of retail stores in the United Kingdom, selling a range of products and principally concentrating on value homeware items.
The company was headquartered in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire but did not have a store in the town: the nearest was 5 miles (8.0 km) away at Ravensthorpe Shopping Park, Dewsbury. The company had over 5,000 employees.
Instore plc, formerly Brown & Jackson plc, was the parent company of "...instore", operating 340 stores across the United Kingdom, also including Poundstretcher and Ponden Mill branded sites. [1]
The ...instore name was created as part of a major rebranding of the existing, value led Poundstretcher business that had been trading since 1981. In September 2002, the company concluded a programme of rebranding half its Poundstretcher stores as "...instore" in an attempt to reposition the business as a more mid market retailer.
Trading subsidiaries What Everyone Wants, Your More Stores and the Famous Brunswick Shoe Warehouse were also disposed of at this time. In 2004 Brown & Jackson sold its Polish retail business, which operated since 1999, to South African Pepkor. [2] In July 2005 the company adopted the name of Instore plc, replacing the previous Brown & Jackson plc name. [3]
In 2006, a new chief executive concluded that the rebranding was not working and from 2007, new stores were opened as Poundstretcher stores. In January 2008, the company acquired 33 Ponden Mill stores under license from the administrators of the company, along with some rights to the Coloroll brand.[ citation needed ]
The company continued to operate both ...instore and Poundstretcher brands, but as of 2009, has reverted its core estate to the Poundstretcher brand.
Established in 1981 by Paul Appell and Stephen Fearnley, Poundstretcher had grown to a business consisting of 338 stores by 2004. Roughly half of the stores were converted to the ...instore format by the end of 2002, and the Poundstretcher business began to marketed jointly with ...instore outlets, sharing the same offers and slogan. By 2009, the company had deemed the rebranding exercise a failure, and ...instore shops were expected to revert to the Poundstretcher fascia.[ citation needed ]
A new Poundstretcher Extra format was developed for larger stores.
After selling Poundstretcher, Paul Appell and Stephen Fearnley became involved in a failing retail business, United News Shops, which they managed to revitalise. Growing to become the largest convenience store and cafeteria business servicing British hospitals, United News Shops was sold to WH Smith in March 2008.[ citation needed ]
During December 2006, the company issued a warning that its profits for the year would be likely to be well below expectations. This was blamed on difficulties experienced at the Huddersfield distribution centre following the introduction of a new software system and poor trading conditions. [4] The company later reported that it was making progress in overcoming the problems it had experienced, and that sales growth for the six week period ending 13 January 2007 was 4.6%. [5]
In May 2007, Peter Burdon, former chief executive of Thorntons, was installed as chief executive. [6] In July 2008, the company rejected a £11.4 million cash offer for the business, arguing that the chain is being undervalued. The bid was made by Seaham Investments, who already control 30.6% of the company. [7] In January 2009, a trading notice issued following the Christmas trading period was of a disappointment to the company, in which they said sales were not as expected.
Later in the month, the final year periods profits were announced at a £4 to 5 million pound loss.[ citation needed ]
Next plc (styled as NEXT) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Next is the largest clothing retailer by sales in the United Kingdom, having overtaken Marks & Spencer in early 2012 and 2014. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Poundstretcher is a British variety store chain, founded in 1981 by Paul Appell and Stephen Fearnley. The retailer is currently based in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, and since April 2024 has been a subsidiary of the Fortress Investment Group.
The Very Group Limited is a multi-brand online retailer and financial services provider in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its head offices are based in the Speke area of the city of Liverpool, England. The brand was established in November 2005 as a result of the merger of the former Littlewoods and Shop Direct companies. The retailer was known as Littlewoods Shop Direct Group until a corporate rebranding to Shop Direct Group in May 2008. In 2013, the company rebranded to Shop Direct, dropping the 'group' from its name. Shop Direct rebranded themselves to The Very Group in 2020.
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, electronics, entertainment, convenience groceries and fragrance and beauty products.
Somerfield was a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. The company also previously owned the Kwik Save chain of discount food stores. The company was taken over by the Co-operative Group on 2 March 2009 in a £1.57 billion deal, creating the UK's fifth-largest food retailer. The Somerfield name was replaced by the Co-operative brand in a rolling programme of store conversions ending in summer 2011.
Budgens Stores Limited, trading as Budgens, is a chain of grocery stores in the United Kingdom. The business was founded in 1872 by John Budgen, who opened the first shop in Maidenhead, Berkshire and was incorporated as a private limited company on 28 May 1962. The company is a subsidiary and retail fascia of Booker Group, part of Tesco plc.
Argos Limited is a British catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and formerly in Ireland, acquired by Sainsbury's supermarket chain in 2016. It was established in November 1972 and is named after the Greek city of Argos. The company trades both through physical shops and online, with 29 million yearly shop customers, and nearly a billion online visitors per annum. It has also franchised overseas to countries such as China.
Currys is a British electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
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. Anecdotally, it was said at one stage that one in three Sunday lunches in the United Kingdom were cooked in a kitchen from MFI, and 60% of British children were conceived in a bedroom from MFI.
Our Price was a chain of record stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland from 1971 until 2004.
In the Republic of Ireland, the retail sector provides one of the largest sources of employment in the economy, representing over 12% of the workforce. As of 2017, approximately 40,000 wholesale and retail businesses employed almost 280,000 people in Ireland, with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment reporting that 90% of these businesses were Irish-owned.
Mothercare plc was a British retailer that specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to eight years of age. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index.
Home Bargains is a British variety store chain founded in 1976 by Tom Morris in Liverpool, England, as Home and Bargain. It is the trading name of TJ Morris Ltd.
Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) is a Carlisle-based retailer specialising in clothing, along with interests in homewares and destination shopping for tourists. It was previously owned by the Dubai-based British billionaire Philip Day.
Dreams Limited is a United Kingdom-based bed retailer and manufacturer specialising in beds, mattresses, bedroom furniture and bed linen. The first Dreams store was opened in 1987 by Mike Clare, and today there are over 200 stores nationwide. The company has its own purpose-designed mattress factory, and currently employs around 1,500 people, across a network of retail showrooms.
Majestic Wine is the UK's specialist wine retailer. The company employs more than 1,300 employees nationwide, and operates more than 200 stores across the United Kingdom. The business is headquartered in Watford and has a distribution centre in Hemel Hempstead.
Modelzone is a scale model brand owned by British retailer WHSmith, of scale models and related products are sold in WHSmith stores and online.
UGO was a chain of convenience stores in the United Kingdom owned by the Haldanes Group and was started in January 2011.
Currys plc is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, which was formed in 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse Group. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Bargain Buys is a British variety store chain, and a subsidiary of Poundstretcher. The company is based in Kirby Muxloe, Leicester.