Mac Fisheries

Last updated

Mac Fisheries
Company typePrivate company, Subsidiary
IndustryRetail
Founded1918
Defunct1979
FateDisposed/Closed
Successor International Stores
Headquarters Bracknell, Berkshire, UK
Key people
 William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (founder)
Parent Unilever (1922–1979)
Subsidiaries Mac Food Centres, Premier Supermarkets

Mac Fisheries was a branded United Kingdom retail chain of fishmongers, founded by William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, the co-founder with his brother of Lever Brothers, which later merged to become Unilever.

Contents

Background

Isle of Lewis

The Pentland Road at Carloway; originally laid out as the trackbed for a railway, planned and funded by Lord Leverhulme, who set out to improve the Lewis economy by setting up commercial fishing fleets which would unload their catches at improved west coast ports, with the fish being transported by rail to processing plants in Stornoway. The fish products would have been retailed through the chain of Mac Fisheries shops The Pentland Road at Carloway - geograph.org.uk - 1454205.jpg
The Pentland Road at Carloway; originally laid out as the trackbed for a railway, planned and funded by Lord Leverhulme, who set out to improve the Lewis economy by setting up commercial fishing fleets which would unload their catches at improved west coast ports, with the fish being transported by rail to processing plants in Stornoway. The fish products would have been retailed through the chain of Mac Fisheries shops

In his thirties, Lord Leverhulme had taken a boat trip and fallen in love with the Western Isles of Scotland. In May 1918, at the age of 66, he bought the Isle of Lewis for £167,000. Convinced that he could resurrect the fishing industry, he set about investing in all aspects of the supporting industries and supply/distribution chain. [1]

Leverhulme's plan was to build an ice-making plant in Stornoway, building refrigerated cargo ships to take fish to a depot at Fleetwood, where he would build herring-curing facilities, a canning factory and a plant installed to make fish cakes, fish paste, glue, animal feed and fertiliser. To create a market for the fish, he began to buy up independent fishmongers throughout Britain, rebranding them Mac Fisheries. [1]

But in 1919, servicemen demobilised from World War I and promised land, started occupying plots on the Isle of Lewis. Leverhulme protested and took legal action against the people he considered squatters, but the Scottish Office took the side of the ex-servicemen, leaving Leverhulme's plan in tatters. Leverhulme announced that he would leave Lewis in 1923, offering to gift the Isle to the locals. But suspicion ran so high, that he was forced to sell again to long-term absentee landlords. [1]

Leverburgh

In late 1919, Leverhulme purchased the South Harris estate from the Earl of Dunmore for the sum of £36,000. Taking in the Western Isles fishing village of Obbe, he planned to turn it into a consolidated major fishing centre, with product distributed through the Mac Fisheries shops. In 1920, Obbe with local consent was rebranded Leverburgh, and 300 men started work on a new pier and seashore infrastructure for processing the product from 50 berthed trawlers. Shore side construction covered an accommodation block, curing sheds, smoke houses, a refrigeration building, store sheds, houses for the managers and a 20 car garage. [2]

With a second stage of development planned that would have seen the inner sea loch converted into a harbour to accommodate 200+ trawlers, fitted with a sea lock to ensure a constant 25 feet (7.6 m) depth, Leverhulme paid for upgraded roads to accommodate the additional traffic. After purchasing the London butchers Wall's in 1920, the economic downturn of 1920–21 slowed development, resulting in the London-based Mac Fisheries being incorporated into Lever Brothers Ltd in 1922. [1] By 1924 Leverburgh was ready to start production, and 12 Great Yarmouth drifters landed a quantity of herring so great, that extra female employees were taken in from the mainland to handle the catch. [2]

After what was to be his last visit to Leverburgh in September 1924, Leverhulme took a trip to Africa, where he developed pneumonia. After his death in Hampstead, his executors and the board of Lever Brothers had no interest in the project and so ended all work, selling off village and production facilities for £5,000, and estate for £300. It is estimated the project cost Leverhulme £500,000. [2]

Retail chain

In 1930, a merger of the major palm oil consumers, the British soapmaker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie, created the foods conglomerate known as Unilever. The company's main focus was overseas expansion by distribution of its manufactured foods products outside its two core markets. The company allowed its in-country operations considerable independence, as long as they made a profit. [1] The head office of Mac Fisheries Ltd was at Ocean House, Pudding Lane, London EC3; its emblem was a roundel in blue and white showing the Scottish saltire with four fish between its arms and the motto "For all fish". [3]

World War Two

A Mac Fisheries market stall in the Higher Market, Exeter, Devon, 1943 A Middle East Soldier Revisits Britain- Life in Wartime Exeter, Devon, England, UK, October 1943 D16650.jpg
A Mac Fisheries market stall in the Higher Market, Exeter, Devon, 1943

Mac Fisheries was thus left alone; it bought fish wholesale, both from Unilever sources as well as in the open market. It did not expand much until the Second World War, when meat which had to be mainly imported was rationed, resulting in a boom in the fish trade. To keep fishermen safe, the government introduced a protected zoning scheme of trawlers, under which they landed fish in different ports each week. Mac Fisheries became adept at communicating to their stores when fresh fish would reach them, resulting in signs in shop windows stating when the next fresh fish delivery was due. [1]

Challenge and development

Food rationing in the UK finally ended in 1954, and together with the wider introduction of American-developed frozen products such as Unilever's own Birds Eye fish fingers, meant a decline in wet-fish sales, and a decline for Mac Fisheries. The management turned the chain towards multi-line retailing, introducing fresh vegetables, dairy products and some canned produce. But now shop size proved a problem, as the originally purchased retail estate from 1920 had not been expanded. [1]

This resulted in the chain moving to larger scale shops in the late 1950s, often on different streets or different parts of the town. But the new multi-line stores proved successful in reviving the chain's fortune, and spurred the growth of the chain into the new concept of supermarket based retail. To expand its footprint Mac Fisheries sought a merger, and found a willing seller in Express Dairies, which wished to dispose of its chain Premier Supermarkets. Express had seen the problem of being both a wholesale supplier to supermarkets such as Fine Fare, Gateway, Sainsbury's and Tesco, as well as a retail competitor in Premier: the same problem that would eventually lead to Mac Fisheries' disposal and closure some 15 years later. Express also needed the cash to develop long-life milk, which the funds from the sale of Premier would allow it to launch. [1]

Merger with Premier Supermarkets

Express put Premier up for sale in April 1964, and concluded a deal with Unilever in May 1964 for £1 million. The Premier stores were rebranded as Mac Food Centres, which were the new format multi-line large footprint stores. Paul Gilam, Mac Fisheries' operations manager pre-takeover, considered the title supermarket brash, hence the name "Food Centre", but due to public opinion the title slipped back in and eventually stayed. [1]

Again estate problems brought issues for Mac Fisheries. Coming second or third into a particular town with the supermarket concept, the new Food Centres were often in the wrong/quiet part of town. This resulted in increased sales thanks to the footprint increase, but financial performance under target. This slowed store roll out, and there were only 80 Food Centres by the end of 1964. Secondly, customers had to get used to a new colour scheme, based on orange over the traditional blue and white. Thirdly the decision was made to keep some of the smaller fish-only stores open as Mac Fisheries, at a time when consumers were attracted by the supermarkets' low-priced mass delivery of processed foods, resulting in further losses. This resulted in competition between the two chains in many towns, Mac Food Centres and Mac Fisheries, further confusing the consumer. To avoid this, later Mac Fisheries were opened as a store-within-a-store at the Mac Food Centres. [1]

Mac Fisheries developed new distribution systems based on Unilever's expertise, building a new warehouse in Farnborough, Hampshire, that introduced the first high street introduction of the bar code to consumer retailing. [4] However, the family concepts from both the original fish mongers and Unilever were retained, with gold watches given to staff with 40 years of service. [1]

By the early 1970s, Unilever was becoming aware of the dichotomy of being both a wholesale supplier and a retailer. Unilever tried to stress to its other supermarket customers that Mac Fisheries did not get a pricing advantage over them, and yet as the science of food retailing developed, it was clear that Unilever was giving guidance to Mac Fisheries on placing Unilever products in the most prominent positions. [1]

Closure

Mac Markets' failed roll out and confused high street marketing between the two chains resulted in the other supermarket brands expanding far more quickly, resulting in their lower prices and higher profits. The result was that, by 1973, while Mac Fisheries Group had a turnover of £50million, its margins were smaller. Secondly, the development of out of town retail parks with another change of estate footprint required new investment was made in the business, something which Unilever was by now reluctant to do as it had to absorb consistent losses from the chain. [1]

The result was a cost-cutting period in 1975, resulting in loss-making store closures and staff reductions, particularly at the group's headquarters in Bracknell, Berkshire. Further, the annual staff conference was downgraded from this point from a top London hotel to a series of regional town meetings. [1]

In April 1979, the Food Centres were sold to International Stores, while the residual wet fish shops were simply closed down within the following three months. [1]

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 U.S. 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">Loblaw Companies</span> Canadian retail company

Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners, as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private label program that includes grocery and household items, clothing, baby products, pharmaceuticals, cellular phones, general merchandise and financial services. Loblaw is the largest Canadian food retailer, and its brands include President's Choice, No Name and Joe Fresh. It is controlled by George Weston Limited, a holding company controlled by the Weston family; Galen G. Weston, is the chair of the Loblaw board of directors, as well as chair of the board of directors and CEO of Canada-based holding company George Weston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save-A-Lot</span> American retail and grocery company

Save A Lot Food Stores Ltd. is an American discount supermarket chain store headquartered in St. Ann, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. It has about 900 independently owned and operated stores across 32 states in the United States with over $4 billion in annual sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypermarket</span> Big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store

A hypermarket is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full grocery lines and general merchandise. In theory, hypermarkets allow customers to satisfy all their routine shopping needs in one trip. The term hypermarket was coined in 1968 by French trade expert Jacques Pictet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woolworths Group (Australia)</span> Australian multinational retail company

Woolworths Group Limited is an Australian multinational retail and finance company, primarily known for the operation of its retail chain Woolworths Supermarkets across Australia, Woolworths in New Zealand and its discount department store Big W. Headquartered in Bella Vista, Sydney, it is the largest company in Australia by revenue and number of employees, and the second-largest in New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leverburgh</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Leverburgh is the second largest village, after Tarbert, in Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Leverburgh is within the parish of Harris. In 1971 it had a population of 223.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme</span> English Industrialist, Politician and Imperialist

William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Having been educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools until he was fifteen; a somewhat privileged education for that time, he started work at his father's wholesale grocery business in Bolton. Following an apprenticeship and a series of appointments in the family business, which he successfully expanded, he began manufacturing Sunlight Soap, building a substantial business empire with many well-known brands such as Lux and Lifebuoy. In 1886, together with his brother, James, he established Lever Brothers, which was one of the first companies to manufacture soap from vegetable oils, and which is now part of the British multinational Unilever. In politics, Lever briefly sat as a Liberal MP for Wirral and later, as Lord Leverhulme, in the House of Lords as a Peer. He was an advocate for expansion of the British Empire, particularly in Africa and Asia, which supplied palm oil, a key ingredient in Lever's product line. His firm had become associated with activities in the Belgian Congo by 1911.

ParknShop is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being Wellcome. ParknShop operates more than 200 outlets in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.

The Oshawa Group was once a leading owner of supermarkets in Ontario, Canada. It was bought by Sobeys in 1998. The company was based in Etobicoke and traded on the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price Rite</span> American supermarket chain

Price Rite is a chain of supermarkets found in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Based in Keasbey, New Jersey, Price Rite is owned by New Jersey-based Wakefern Food Corporation, the cooperative behind ShopRite Supermarkets, Dearborn Market, and The Fresh Grocer. Prior to 2014, Wakefern owned and operated all Price Rite stores.

Japan's service industries, including trade, are the major contributor to gross national product (GNP), generating about 74.1 percent of the national totals in 2004. Moreover, services are the fastest growing sector, outperforming manufacturing. The service sector covers many diverse activities. Wholesale and retail trade was dominant, but advertising, data processing, publishing, tourism, leisure industries, entertainment, and other industries grew rapidly in the 1980s. Most service industries were small and labor-intensive but became more technologically sophisticated as computer and electronic products were incorporated by management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoppers Food & Pharmacy</span> Supermarket chain located in Baltimore and Washington, DC

Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, also known as Shoppers Food Warehouse, is a chain of 22 supermarkets located in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas. Shoppers has fresh produce, Swift Angus beef, Smithfield natural pork, all-natural chicken, Dietz & Watson delis, fresh seafood, steamed shrimp, as well as hot food bars.

Albert Gubay, KC*SG was a Welsh businessman and philanthropist, who made his fortune with the Kwik Save retail chain, building it further on investments, mainly in property development. According to Forbes, in 2006 Gubay had an estimated fortune of approximately £500 million, making him the 698th richest person in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Tea Co. Stores</span> Chain of grocers based in London

International Tea Co. Stores was a leading chain of grocers based in London. It was an original constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation</span>

The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, abbreviated as and known better by its brand name Supplyco, is a Government of Kerala-owned company headquartered at Kochi, India. It acts as the execution arm of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies of the Government of Kerala. Founded in 1974, the company serves the purpose of governmental intervention in the retail market to control prices of essential commodities.

X5 Group is Russia's largest food retailer. In 2012, the organization of X5-Retail Group LLC was liquidated, and in 2018 X5 Group LLC was opened.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "History". MacFisheries.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "History of Leverburgh". Leverburgh.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 June 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  3. ↑ The Housewife's Diary, 1936. London: Mac Fisheries Ltd.; p. 1
  4. ↑ "STOCK CONTROL AT MAC FISHERIES: THE USE OF PORTABLE RECORDING EQUIPMENT". emeraldinsight.com. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
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.