Currys

Last updated

Currys
IndustryRetail
Founded1884
Headquarters Waterloo, London, England
Number of locations
Decrease2.svg 301 (2023) [1]
Area served
United Kingdom, Ireland
Key people
Alex Baldock (Group Chief Executive)
Products
Parent Currys plc
Website currys.co.uk OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) 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.

Contents

Established as a bicycle retailer in 1927, Currys expanded the range of goods sold and from the 1960s became a major retailer of household electrical items. In 1984 the company was bought by rival retailer Dixons, and the Currys brand was used for all outlets of the combined company. From 2008, the business turned away from shops in town centres to larger out-of-town stores under the Currys PC World brand, combining the operations of Currys with Dixon's PC World under one roof; after the formation of Dixons Carphone in 2014, the stores gained Carphone Warehouse departments. It was announced in July 2021 that all Currys PC World stores would be rebranded to Currys.

History

Early years

Currys Shop at 285-287 Belgrave gate in 1903 Currys Shop 285-287 Belgrave gate 1903.jpeg
Currys Shop at 285–287 Belgrave gate in 1903

Henry Curry started to make bicycles in Painter Street Leicester in 1884, after leaving his previous employer N. Corah & Sons. Currys went public in 1927 when his four sons merged The Louth Bicycle Company, and the loose confederation of shops which the sons had run since their father's retirement in 1909, with the Nottingham-based Campion Cycle Company. [2]

An old sign for a Currys store in Cowley Road, Oxford, possibly dating from 1934. Old Currys sign.jpg
An old sign for a Currys store in Cowley Road, Oxford, possibly dating from 1934.

By the 1940s, the shops sold a wide variety of goods including bicycles, toys, radios and gramophones. [3]

Meanwhile, particularly under the directorship between 1967 and 1984 of Dennis Curry, grandson of Henry Curry, [4] the company underwent considerable expansion to become a major high street supplier of televisions and white goods (refrigerators, washing machines and other domestic appliances); by 1984 Currys Group plc had 570 shops, twice as many as the company which was then to acquire it. [5]

Logo used until 2021 Currys.png
Logo used until 2021

Takeover by Dixons

Branch in the former branding in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, 2006 Currys - geograph.org.uk - 191140.jpg
Branch in the former branding in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, 2006
Currys adjacent to former rival Comet in Guiseley, West Yorkshire, 2009 Comet and Currys in Guiseley.jpg
Currys adjacent to former rival Comet in Guiseley, West Yorkshire, 2009

In 1984, Currys was taken over by Dixons (another electrical products retail chain, now Currys plc) but maintained its separate brand identity. In April 2006, Dixons Stores Group announced that its Dixons shops, except in Ireland and in duty-free areas in airports, would be rebranded as Currys.digital [6] (later changed to Currys Digital). In Ireland, the Dixons shops were rebranded as Currys in August 2008. [7]

Before the Dixons rebranding, the chain had only a few small town centre shops compared with its much greater number of large out-of-town megastores. On 17 January 2007, group chief executive John Clare announced that when the leases on the remaining Currys High Street shops (not the rebranded Currys.digital shops) expired, it would be unlikely that they would be renewed: thus the shops would be closed at the earliest opportunity. [8]

Currys PC World

A combined Currys and PC World on The Headrow in Leeds, 2013 PC World, the Headrow, Leeds (20th February 2013) (tweaked).jpg
A combined Currys and PC World on The Headrow in Leeds, 2013

Dixons Retail began a trial combining Currys and PC World shops in 2008. [9] [10] During the Dixons Carphone Christmas 2015–2016 results update to shareholders, Sebastian James, group chief executive, revealed that over the following financial year the three-in-one shop format (shops featuring Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse branding under one roof) would be rolled out across the company's entire portfolio in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. [11]

Revival of Currys as sole brand

Following reorganisations in 2020 and 2021, Dixons Carphone announced that the Currys PC World stores would be rebranded as Currys in October 2021. [12]

Views

In December 2023, Currys' CEO Alex Baldock said of a planned rise in the National Minimum Wage, "We believe we are paying our colleagues well and we certainly intend to continue to. That said, for the retail industry as a whole, having a big hike in the 'national living wage' at the same time as an expected half a billion pound increase in the rates bill just shows how little the government appears to understand or care about this industry." [13]

Related Research Articles

Next plc, trading as Next (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.

Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe, which merged with Carphone Warehouse in 2014 to create Dixons Carphone. In the United Kingdom, the company operated Currys, Currys Digital, PC World, Dixons Travel and its service brand Knowhow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Very Group</span> Online retailer

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Warehouse Group</span> New Zealand retail group

The Warehouse Group (TWG) was established by Stephen Tindall in 1982 and is the largest retail group in operation in New Zealand. It is a corporate conglomerate that consists of The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Noel Leeming, 1-day, and TheMarket.

Carphone Warehouse is a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc, which was formed by the merger of its former parent Carphone Warehouse Group with Dixons Retail. Prior to this merger, Carphone Warehouse Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Following the closure of all stand-alone UK stores in April 2020, all remaining Carphone Warehouse UK outlets were within branches of Currys PC World. In April 2021, the Carphone Warehouse business in Ireland was closed with immediate effect. Currys continued to use the Carphone Warehouse brand in the United Kingdom, online and, until 2021, inside Currys stores.

Dixons was a British high-street retailer of consumer electronics, originally founded in 1937 as a photographic studio by Charles Kalms. The company would later deal in many consumer electronics, with nationwide outlets in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PC World (retailer)</span> Former British chain of computer stores

PC World was a British retail chain of mass market computer megastores. Established in November 1991, it became part of Dixons Retail in February 1993, and then part of Dixons Carphone, after the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse in August 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Link (retailer)</span> UK communications retailer

The Link was an internet based mobile phone and communications retailer in the United Kingdom. It was owned by Dixons Retail, the United Kingdom's largest consumer electronics retail group, and traded online through a dedicated retail website, which in addition to mobile phones also offered satellite navigation systems and broadband Internet services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comet Group</span> Electrical online retailer

Comet Electricals Limited, trading as Comet, is an online electrical retail chain based in the United Kingdom. The company sells consumer electronics and white goods, along with related products and services. Its predecessor, under the same brand name, pioneered the concept of the out-of-town discount warehouse in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Kalms, Baron Kalms</span> British businessman

Harold Stanley Kalms, Baron Kalms is the life president and former chairman of Currys plc. Currys plc owns Currys, as well as the now phased-out brands "PC World", "Team Knowhow" and various international electronics retailers. Dixons Retail merged with Carphone Warehouse in October 2014 to become Dixons Carphone. He spent his entire career from 1948 working for Dixons, which was founded by his father Charles Kalms in 1937.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Currys Digital</span> Former British electrical retailer

Currys Digital was an electrical retailer in the United Kingdom owned by Dixons Carphone, with its origins in a photographic shop opened by Charles Kalms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PC City</span>

PC City was a chain of computer superstores owned and run by Dixons Carphone. Established in 1991, it was a continental European equivalent to the PC World brand, which operates in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Dunstone</span> British businessman

Sir Charles William Dunstone is the British co-founder and former chairman of mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse, former chairman of multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company Dixons Carphone, and executive chairman of the TalkTalk Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phones 4u</span> Mobile phone company

Phones 4u was a large independent mobile phone retailer in the United Kingdom. It was part of the 4u Group based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. Opening in 1996, it expanded to over 600 stores. On 14 September 2014, EE and Vodafone, the company's final remaining suppliers, ended their contracts.

Frasers Group plc is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixons (Netherlands)</span> Dutch electricals retailer

Dixons is a Dutch chain of stores specialising in what it refers to as leisure time electronics. This means that Dixons does not sell products like washing machines or televisions but does provide things like digital cameras, PC's, MP3 players, gaming consoles and mobile phones.

Dixons may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electro World (retailer)</span>

Electro World is an electronics online retailer founded in 2002 and operating in Sweden. It also operated in Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Greece and Turkey, as a subsidiary of Currys plc, until operations in those countries were sold off.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Currys plc</span> British retail company

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Londis (Ireland)</span> Irish convenience store chain

Londis is a chain of convenience shop franchises operating in Ireland. The stores form a symbol group and are all owned on a franchise basis.

References

  1. ↑ "Our Brands". CurrysPLC. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  2. ↑ Harry Lerner 1984). Currys, the First 100 Years, Woodhead-Faulkner Press. ISBN   0859413071 [ page needed ]
  3. ↑ Whittaker, John (16 April 2001). "Dennis Curry".
  4. ↑ "Obituary: Dennis Curry". www.telegraph.co.uk. 17 April 2001. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  5. ↑ "Dixons Group plc" on Company-Histories.com
  6. ↑ "Assessing the Currys.digital brand". Marketing Week. 29 September 2006. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  7. ↑ Mulligan, John (7 August 2008). "Electrical store Dixons to be rebranded under Currys name". Irish Independent.
  8. ↑ "Business Comment". The Independent. London. 18 January 2007. Archived from the original on 18 February 2007.
  9. ↑ "PC World and Currys trial joint store". Archived from the original on 29 September 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  10. ↑ Parfitt, Ben (3 August 2009). "PC World and Currys combo 'a success'". MCV. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  11. ↑ "Christmas Trading Update 2015–16" (PDF). Dixons Carphone. Dixons Carphone. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  12. ↑ Onita, Laura (13 May 2021). "Dixons, PC World and Carphone Warehouse to disappear in Currys rebrand". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  13. ↑ "Currys boss: minimum wage hike shows government does not 'care' about retail". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.