| Type | Retail chain |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fashion |
| Founded | Hull 1956 |
| Headquarters | Manchester, UK |
Area served | United Kingdom |
| Products | Clothing, Shoes |
| Parent | J D Williams |
| Website | High and Mighty |
High and Mighty is a clothing retail chain for tall and/or wide men in the United Kingdom. After having been family-owned for more than fifty years, it was sold to mailorder group N Brown in September 2009. [1]
The company was founded in Hull in 1956 by tailor Bernard Levy, as a mailorder company. [2] The company's first store was opened in Edgware Road in London in 1959 as Northern Outsize Menswear, soon followed by several more stores. The company changed its name to High and Mighty in the 1970s, [3] and in 1979 it opened stores in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, trading as London Majesty. It was, however, forced to close the two US stores in 1991. [4]
In 1990, Bernard Levy's daughter, Judith Levy, took over as chairman and managing director, [5] and in 1996 her sister, Ruth Levy-So, joined as business development director. [6] By 2000, the company had 23 stores in the UK and 10 in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands, and launched its own urban streetwear brand, Kayak. [6]
By 2008, the company started to have financial difficulties, partly because of increased competition from e-commerce retailers. [7] In September 2009 it went into pre-pack administration and was quickly bought by the N Brown Group's main subsidiary, mailorder firm JD Williams, for £1.6 million. [8] 14 of the 21 stores were included in the purchase, and the N Brown management said that they wanted to reinvigorate and expand the chain, which is N Brown's first branded foray on to the high street. [8]
The High and Mighty e-commerce was quickly expanded following the purchase, and several new stores were planned. By September 2010, the number of existing or soon to open stores had risen from 14 to 17, [9] and the flagship store on Edgware Road had been revamped and relaunched with the new High and Mighty look. [10] [11]
The online fashion retailer N Brown announced plans in June 2018 to close all 20 of its high street stores in the UK. [12] The stores, trading under the names High & Mighty, Jacamo and Simply Be, have now closed with the loss of 270 jobs.
Asda Stores Ltd. is a British supermarket chain. Its headquarters are in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorkshire. It expanded into Southern England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI Group. It sold these acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on the supermarkets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 1999 when it was acquired by Walmart for £6.7 billion. Asda was the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2014 by market share, at which point it fell into third place.
Nordstrom, Inc. is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a second Nordstrom's shoe store opened in 1923. The growing Nordstrom Best chain began selling clothing in 1963, and became the Nordstrom full-line retailer that presently exists by 1971. The company founded its off-price Nordstrom Rack division in 1973, and grew both full-line and off-price divisions throughout the United States in the following years before expanding into Canada in 2014. In the American market, it competes with department stores including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish department store chain Magasin du Nord. In its final years, its headquarters were within the premises of its flagship store in Oxford Street, London. The range of goods sold included middle-to-high-end clothing, beauty, household items, and furniture.
Hamleys is a British multinational toy retailer, owned by Reliance Retail. The world's oldest toy store, it was founded by William Hamley as "Noah's Ark" in High Holborn, London, in 1760. It moved to its current site on Regent Street in London's West End in 1881. This flagship store is set over seven floors, with more than 50,000 lines of toys on sale. It receives around five million visitors each year. The chain has 15 outlets in the United Kingdom and also has more than 90 franchises worldwide.
TOPSHOP is a British fashion brand for women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021. It now operates via the ASOS website and app, as well as being sold in Nordstrom stores in the US and Canada and on Nordstrom.com. TOPSHOP previously had around 510 shops worldwide.
The Disney Store is a chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive, under its own name and Disney Outlet. It was a business unit of Disney Consumer Products with the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment of The Walt Disney Company conglomerate.
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.
Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV, is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom.
Gimbel Brothers was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the company moved its operations to the Gimbel Brothers Department Store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It became a chain when it opened a second, larger store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1894, moving its headquarters there. At the urging of future company president Bernard Gimbel, grandson of the founder, the company expanded to New York City in 1910.
Argos Limited, trading as Argos, is a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and 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.
Uniqlo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.
John Lewis & Partners is a brand of high-end department stores operating throughout the United Kingdom, with concessions also located in Ireland. The brand sells general merchandise as part of the employee-owned mutual organisation known as the John Lewis Partnership, the largest co-operative in the United Kingdom. It was created by Spedan Lewis, son of the founder, John Lewis, in 1929. From 1925 to 2022, the chain had a policy that it would always at least match a lower price offered by a national high street competitor; this pledge was known by the name "Never Knowingly Undersold".
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.
Plus-size clothing is clothing proportioned specifically for people above the average clothing size. The application of the term varies from country to country, and according to which industry the person is involved in.
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.
Long Tall Sally is a clothing and shoe retailer for tall women 5′8″ and over. Founded in London in 1976, the company offered clothing with sizing adjustments for longer torso lengths, rises on pants, and dart positions on blouses. It sold under several labels including Karl Lagerfeld Paris and its own LTS label.
Blue Inc is a fashion retailer with 41 stores based and operating across the United Kingdom. It was notable for being one of the largest menswear retailers in the country until 2016. It had stores nationwide, mainly in larger towns and cities.
Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is an American lifestyle retailer that focuses on casual wear. Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio. The company operates three other offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks. As of February 2020, the company operated 854 stores across all brands.
Edison Brothers Stores, Inc., was a retail conglomerate based in St. Louis, Missouri. It operated numerous retail chains mainly located in shopping malls, mostly in the fields of shoes, clothing and entertainment, with Bakers Shoes as its flagship chain. The company was liquidated and condemned in 1999, though some of the chains it operated continued under different owners.
Barkers or Barkers Men's Clothing is a New Zealand menswear fashion brand and retail chain. It has 31 stores around the country, including 13 in Auckland. It was established in Auckland CBD in 1972, and is headquartered in Grafton, Auckland. The chain sells a range of men's clothing, including shirts, knitwear, pants, jeans, sweatshirts, jackets and coats, blazers, t-shirts, shorts, polo shirts, socks, ties and belts.