Laws Stores

Last updated

Laws Stores Ltd.
Founded19th Century - WM Laws
1907 - City Stores
1921 - Combined to form Laws Stores
Defunct1985
Headquarters Gateshead, Tyne and Wear [1]
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
 Grigor McClelland

Laws Stores was a grocery store business that expanded across the North East of England and Southern Scotland, before moving into the burgeoning supermarket trade. It was purchased by Scottish grocery chain W M Low in 1985 as part of their expansion plans.

The original company of WM Laws was founded in Gateshead during the last quarter of the 19th century by William Maitland Laws. [2] In 1907, Arthur McClelland, the son of Andrew Penman McClelland who was a partner in Joshua Wilson and Brothers, a Sunderland based wholesale grocery business, started his own grocery business, City Stores, in Shields Road, Byker. [3] McClelland had completed an apprenticeship at a fellow Quaker grocery firm, Pumphrey & Carrick Watson of Newcastle. [4] In 1921, McClelland purchased WM Laws nine stores and merged them with his own City Stores, branding the new business as Laws Stores. [3] By 1939, the business had grown to 52 stores across the North East.

After completing a degree at Balliol College, Oxford, Arthur's son Grigor McClelland joined the company as managing director in 1948. During the 50s and he introduced a number of innovations including self-service and modern warehousing and distribution systems. [5] In 1952, when addressing the Publicity Club in London, Grigor McClelland stated,

Impact of self-service shops on advertising will be an intensification of the trend towards displaying in the advertisement the actual picture of the product so that people can recognise it when they see it in a self-service shop [6]

Laws Stores tested the Resale price maintenance in 1953, when they reduced all Fruit squash drinks by 6 pence, but the manufacturer stopped supplying Laws after the local grocers association complained. [7] In 1957, the company had 65 stores, 385 employees and a turnover of £1.25 million a year. [8] Grigor McClelland shared his managing director role at the company after joining Balliol College in 1962 to become their first fellow in Management Studies. While at Balliol, Grigor set up the Journal of Management Studies before moving on in 1965 to become the first director of the Manchester Business School. [9] In the same year, McClelland became Chairman of Laws Stores and stopped running the company on a day to day basis. [10] The company continued to challenge the resale price maintenance up and to the government brought in United Kingdom competition law#History legislation to remove it. [11] The company grew significantly during the supermarket boom of the late 60s and early 70s, [12] including purchasing the Scottish grocery business of Unigate including eight Kibby's Supermarkets, [13] but then faced challenges in the economic crisis and from larger supermarket chains. The company had a turnover of £6.4 million and profits of £170,000 in 1969, however by 1974 the turnover had increased to £14.7 million but profits had dropped to £150,000. [14]

McClelland returned as Managing Director of Laws in 1978. The company was at this point struggling against the growth of national brands and the company still operating from its first generation supermarket stores, as we as internal issues with warehousing. [15] McClelland looked at how they could improve Laws profitability, including should they go down the discounter route, take the company upmarket, move into offering non grocery stock or into different service industries. The company seriously looked at several different: specialist fruit and vegetable retailing, health food retailing, fast food business or targeting small town locations away from large supermarkets. [15] The company attempted the move into the fast food trade by taking on a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise, but the site proved to be wrong. [15] McClelland did however improve their warehousing issues, opening a new warehouse, while freeing up space by outsourcing their frozen storage to Amalgamated Foods of Durham. [15] By 1984, the company had a turnover of £56 million. [16]

In 1985 the whole chain was sold to Wm Low at a cost of £6.8 million. [16] In McClelland's article Economies of Scale in British food retail from 1990, he stated that the company was struggling and needed to be sold before it became unsellable. During 1986, Wm Low closed eight unprofitable Laws stores and converted the remaining 36 stores to their own branding. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supermarket</span> Large format of grocery store

A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. In everyday United States usage, however, "grocery store" is often used to mean "supermarket".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grocery store</span> Retail store that primarily sells food and other household supplies

A grocery store (AE), grocery shop (BE) or simply grocery is a foodservice retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, and is not used to refer to other types of stores that sell groceries. In the UK, shops that sell food are distinguished as grocers or grocery shops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kroger</span> American retail company

The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T&T Supermarket</span> Canadian supermarket chain

T&T Supermarkets is a Canadian supermarket chain that sells primarily Asian foods, including fresh produce, meat, seafood, and Asian packaged goods. It also sells kitchenware and gifts, and has in-store kitchens and bakeries. T&T Supermarkets was founded in Vancouver in 1993 by Cindy Lee. It is currently led by CEO Tina Lee, who succeeded her mother in 2014. In 2009, T&T Supermarkets was acquired by Loblaw Companies Limited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A&P</span> Defunct American grocery store chain

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859–2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piggly Wiggly</span> American supermarket chain

Piggly Wiggly is an American supermarket chain operating in the American Southern and Midwestern regions run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. Its first outlet opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, and is notable as the first true self-service grocery store, and the originator of various familiar supermarket features such as checkout stands, individual item price marking and shopping carts. The company headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire. 499 independently owned Piggly Wiggly stores currently operate across 18 states, primarily in smaller cities and towns.

Victor Value was a London-based value supermarket group that operated at the discount end of the grocery trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Low</span> Chain of supermarkets company

William Low plc was a chain of supermarkets based in Dundee, Scotland, until it was bought out by Tesco for £257M in 1994.

SuperValu, Inc., was an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, formerly headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, had been in business since 1926. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods (UNFI).

The Nash Finch Company was a Fortune 500 company based in Edina, Minnesota, United States. The company was involved in food distribution to private companies, primarily independent supermarkets, and military commissaries; and the operation of retail stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn Traffic</span> Defunct retail chain

The Penn Traffic Company was a food service company founded in 1854 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Foodtown is a northeastern United States supermarket cooperative founded in 1955 by Twin County Grocers in New Jersey. Currently, there are 66 Foodtown stores in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Foodtown's corporate offices are located in Iselin, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Greig (supermarket)</span>

David Greig was initially a grocery store that grew to become one of the burgeoning supermarket chains in the United Kingdom. The original business was founded by the Greig family of Hornsey, North London. During the seventies, the business was first purchased by Wrensons, a Midlands-based grocery chain before the combined group took on the David Greig name. The combined company was purchased by British food conglomerate Fitch Lovell and was eventually merged into the group's supermarket chain Key Markets.

Roundy's Supermarkets is an American supermarket operator. It owns and operates stores under the names of Pick 'n Save, Metro Market, and Mariano's Fresh Market. The chain is a subsidiary of Kroger. Roundy's operates 149 supermarkets and 107 pharmacies throughout the states of Wisconsin and Illinois. Based on fiscal year 2012 sales, Roundy's was the 37th largest grocery store chain and the 89th largest retailer in the United States. As of December 2015, Roundy's became a subsidiary of Kroger of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Roy Furr was the president of the Furr's chain of supermarkets and restaurants after his older brother Key Furr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoprite (Isle of Man)</span> Former Manx supermarket chain

Shoprite Limited was a community food store chain in the Isle of Man. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Isle of Man Enterprises plc, until Tesco announced their purchase of the business on 9 October 2023.

Uniq plc was a British food manufacturer. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, it was taken over by Irish foods conglomerate Greencore in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save Mart Supermarkets</span> American grocery store company

The Save Mart Companies is an American grocery store operator founded and headquartered in Modesto, California. It owns and operates stores under the names of Save Mart, Lucky, Lucky California, FoodMaxx, and Maxx Value Foods. The stores are located in northern and central California and northern Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannaford Brothers Company</span> American supermarket chain

Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in Portland, Maine, in 1883, Hannaford operates stores in New England and New York. The chain is now part of the Ahold Delhaize group based in the Netherlands, and is a sister company to formerly competing New England supermarket chain Stop & Shop.

Wright's Biscuits was established in 1790 as L Wright & Son, in South Shields. In the 1930s they implemented intensive factory methods for production and became a national supplier of biscuits and cakes, and a leading employer in Tyne and Wear. They also ran a large chain of grocery stores under various names, and controlled fellow grocery chain Moores Stores. The business became part of James Goldsmith's Cavenham Foods group in 1971.

References

  1. ↑ Macmillan's Unquoted Companies. Macmillan Press. 1985. p. 339.
  2. ↑ Richard M. Laws (2017). Large Animals and wide Horizons. The Autobiography of Richard M. Laws. In three parts. Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears. Janus Publishing Company, Limited. p. 12. ISBN   978-1-85756-864-6.
  3. 1 2 "Laws Stores". Evening Chronicle. 10 December 2012.
  4. ↑ "Laws Stores Ltd. grocers". National Archives. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  5. ↑ Wainwright, Martin (14 November 2013). "Grigor McClelland obituary". The Guardian.
  6. ↑ "Chain Store Directors Address". Newspaper World. No. 2815–2840. 1952. p. 222.
  7. ↑ Shaw, Gareth; Benson, John (1999). The Retailing Industry: 1945-Retail revolutions. I.B. Tauris. p. 30.
  8. ↑ "Adapting to the supermarket era". Brochure. No. 207–215. International Chamber of Commerce. 1960. p. 13.
  9. ↑ "Founder Grigor McClelland, CBE - Founder, Editor 1964-1966". Society for the Advancement of Management Studies. November 2013.
  10. ↑ "Loss of a clear, moral compass; William Grigor McClelland died on November 6. STEVE HILDITCH pays tribute". The Journal. 21 November 2013.
  11. ↑ "Stamps and Price Maintenance". The Statist. 182: 641. 1964.
  12. ↑ "Edinburgh development". The Estates Gazette. Vol. 248. 1978. p. 109.
  13. ↑ "Unigate sells Scottish Shops". Dairy Industries. Vol. 37. 1972. p. 677.
  14. ↑ A Study of the Evolution of Concentration in the Food Distribution Industry for the United Kingdom: Industry structure and concentration. Commission of the European Communities. 1976. pp. 222–230.
  15. 1 2 3 4 John Dawsond (1990). Competition and Markets. Essays in Honour of Margaret Hall. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 134. ISBN   9781349105106.
  16. 1 2 "Supermarket industry changes". Environment & Planning A. 28: 1474-1477. 1996.
  17. ↑ Restructuring Scottish grocery retailing: the rise and demise of Shoprite and Wm Low Article retrieved 25 November 2007.
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.