Marks and Spencer Group plc is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home products and food products. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, having previously been in the FTSE 100 Index from its creation until 2019.
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. Retailers are the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers.
Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly-traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until January 14, 2018, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company began as Simpsons-Sears—a joint venture between the Canadian Simpsons department store chain and the American Sears chain—which operated a national mail order business and co-branded Simpsons-Sears stores modelled after those of Sears in the U.S. After the Hudson's Bay Company purchased Simpsons in 1978, the joint venture was dismantled and Hudson's Bay sold its shares in the joint venture to Sears; with Sears now fully owning the company, it was renamed Sears Canada Inc. in 1984. In 1999, Sears Canada acquired the remaining assets and locations of the historic Canadian chain Eaton's. From 2014, Sears Holdings owned a 10% share in the company. ESL Investments was the largest shareholder of Sears Canada.
Poundstretcher is a chain of discount stores operating in the United Kingdom. It is based in Desford, Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire.
BWG Foods UC is an Irish wholesaler and retail grocery franchise operator.
The Very Group 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.
M&M Food Market, formerly known as M&M Meat Shops, is a Canadian frozen food retail chain. The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, and has locations in all ten provinces, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories; the company formerly had operations in the Midwestern United States under the MyMenu brand that operated between 2008 and 2013.
First Quench Retailing was the largest independent off-licence retail chain in the UK, with around 1,300 shops operating under several retail brands, though all have now been closed. At the time of First Quench's closure, these included the Threshers, Haddows, The Local and Wine Rack chains.
Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. is an American discount closeout retailer consisting exclusively of supermarket locations that offer deeply discounted, overstocked, and closeout products from name brand and private label suppliers. The company has stores in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
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, stocking up to 4,000 branded product lines, and employs over 22,000 people from head office staff to warehouse and shop staff.
Poundland is a British variety store chain founded in 1990, selling most items at the single price of £1, including clearance items and proprietary brands. The first pilot store opened in December 1990 following numerous rejections by landlords who had reservations about allowing a single-price store to operate, fearing it could adversely affect the local competition. An estimated 7 million customers shopped in Poundland every week in 2016, many being female shoppers in the C1, C2, D and E categories. Following a drop in share price of over 50%, Poundland was acquired in August 2016 by Steinhoff International for £610m.
99p Stores Ltd. was a family-run business founded in January 2001 by entrepreneur Nadir Lalani, who opened the first store in the chain in Holloway, London, with a further three stores opening later that year. In 2002, Lalani decided to expand the business throughout the UK and had rapidly developed 99p Stores, operating a total of 129 stores as of March 2010 and serving around 1.5 million customers each week, undercutting their main rival Poundland by a penny. As of mid-2009 the company offered more than 3,500 different product lines throughout its stores.
B&M European Value Retail S.A., trading as B&M, formerly known as B&M Bargains, Bargain Madness and Billington & Mayman is a British-Luxembourg variety store chain founded in 1978 and incorporated in Luxembourg. It employs over 32,000 people. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Heron Foods Ltd. is an English retail chain founded in 1979 and based in Melton with 293 stores as of 1 July 2020.
Poundworld was a chain of British value variety stores that sold most of its items for £1. It was founded in 1974 by Yorkshire-based father-and-son team Chris Edwards Sr. and Chris Edwards Jr. In contrast to many high street retailers, it maintained strong sales and growth during the global recession that started in 2007. Poundworld's product range consisted of over 6,000 items including groceries, health and beauty, toiletries, cleaning products and pet care, some of them known brands. At its peak it had 335 stores in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In 2014, it planned to open 150 new stores within three years.
Pep&Co is a British discount fashion retail chain, owned by the South African company Pepkor and based in Watford, England.
StarBargains.co.uk was a grocery retailer chain, which was based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and operated throughout Europe.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.
