 Former Arnott's department store, Paisley | |
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department store |
| Founded | 1850 |
| Founders | John Arnott |
| Headquarters | Jamaica Street, Glasgow, Scotland |
Area served | Glasgow |
Arnotts was a department store in Glasgow, Scotland. It became part of the House of Fraser and one of their group brands, with the Arnotts brand then also being used by the company for department stores elsewhere in Scotland.
The store was opened by John Arnott as a subsidiary of Arnott, Cannock & Co of Dublin in 1850 in Jamaica Street as a drapery. [1] During 1886 the partnership between Arnott and Cannock was dissolved and Thomas Arnott, half brother of John, ran the store under the name of Arnott & Co.
In 1864, the building was acquired from the trustees of the City of Glasgow Bank, expanding the store so by 1874 it was a department store. [2] In 1891 the business was incorporated and by 1906 the store frontage was remodelled. During the 1920s and 30s the Company started to struggle and in 1936, Fraser, Sons & Co Ltd bought the business and created a new Arnott & Co company. [3] Frasers modernised the store with the second and third floor being opened up to showroom space and adding of an elevator. In 1938, it was merged by Frasers with neighbour Robert Simpson & Sons, who they had also purchased in 1936, to create Arnott-Simpson Ltd. [4] [5] The two stores were reconstructed as one. In 1947, the Company Arnott-Simpson was liquidated, along with Fraser, Sons & Co and the store became a trading name of the House of Fraser. [6] [7] [8]
Further department stores acquired by House of Fraser were successively re-branded as Arnotts during the 1970s and 80s, the trading name eventually being applied to the majority of the group's stores in Scotland. These included stores of the former T. Baird & Sons group and two of House of Fraser's seven Edinburgh stores (including Patrick Thomson). [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] House of Fraser closed its last remaining Arnotts store, that in Paisley (formerly Robert Cochran & Sons purchased 1964 [14] ), in January 2004. [15]
The Robert Simpson Company Limited, commonly known as Simpson's until 1972, then as Simpsons, and in Quebec sometimes as Simpson, was a Canadian department store chain that had its earliest roots in a store opened in 1858 by Robert Simpson.
Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upscale department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908.
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House of Fraser and Frasers are a British department store chain with 26 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it was known as Fraser & Sons. The company grew steadily during the early 20th century and in 1936 began a period of growth through acquisition which would continue for over forty years. House of Fraser Ltd was incorporated in 1941 and first listed on the London Stock Exchange six years later.
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Owen Owen was a Liverpool-based operator of department stores in the United Kingdom and Canada. Beginning with a drapery shop in Liverpool, a chain of department stores was built up, often by taking over rival retailers. The company remained under Owen / Norman family control until the 1980s, and the brand ceased to be used in 2007.
Army & Navy Stores was a department store group in the United Kingdom, which originated as a co-operative society for military officers and their families during the nineteenth century. The society became a limited liability company in the 1930s and purchased multiple independent department stores during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1973, the Army and Navy Stores group was acquired by House of Fraser. In 2005, the remaining Army & Navy stores were refurbished and re-branded under the House of Fraser nameplate. House of Fraser itself was acquired by Icelandic investment company, Baugur Group, in late 2006, and then by Sports Direct on the 10 August 2018.
Brown Thomas & Company Limited is a chain of five upmarket department stores in Ireland, with two located in Dublin, and one each in Cork, Galway, and Limerick. Together with Dublin's Arnotts department store, it is owned by UK-based Selfridges, which in turn is owned by Thai Conglomerate Central Group and Austria's Signa Holding.
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 businessman Philip Day.
Rackhams was a British department store that opened in Birmingham, England in 1881. The business became part of the Harrods group in 1955, before Harrods was purchased by House of Fraser in 1959. As part of the Harrods grouping in House of Fraser, during the 1970s the Rackhams name was selected to be used as the Midlands and parts of the North of England brand name and several stores were added to its portfolio. In 2000 the Rackhams name was retired and replaced by House of Fraser.
Chiesmans was a department store group based in Lewisham, London. The business was established in 1884 as a general draper, expanding to become the largest department store in south-east London and operator of a network of branches stretching from Essex to the Isle of Wight. The group was acquired by House of Fraser in 1976. The former Lewisham flagship store closed in 1997.
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