United Drapery Stores

Last updated

United Drapery Stores (UDS)
Type Private
Industry Retail
Founded1927
Defunct1983
FateDormant company
Successor Hanson plc / Allders
Headquarters London, UK
Key people
 Sir Arthur Wheeler, 1st Baronet
Joseph Collier
Jack Lyons
Bernard Lyons
ProductsRetailers
Subsidiaries Allders
Richard Shops
John Collier
William Timpson
Whiteleys
Arding & Hobbs

United Drapery Stores, or UDS, was a British retail group that dominated the British high street from the 1950s to the early 1980s.

Contents

Early history

In 1925, Charterhouse Bank set up Charterhouse Investment Trust. [1] The trust started buying up department stores: Hinds & Co, John Blundell, Shinners, S. Young & Son and Hawes Brothers, as well as retailers Walker & Penistans and Joseph Carton and Co, [2] in the London suburbs under the stewardship of Charterhouse chairman Sir Arthur Wheeler, 1st Baronet. [3] [4] In 1927, the trust floated United Drapery Stores as the holding company for these businesses. [5] [6] In 1928, Henry Glave, a department store in New Oxford Street acquired the business under the management of Sir Arthur Wheeler, 1st Baronet, who had recently resigned from Charterhouse. [7] [8] [9] [10] [4] The company in 1930 reported profits of £102,413. [11] By 1931, this had grown to 112 retail outlets, however Wheeler was declared bankrupt and Martin Price of Viney, Price and Goodyear were instructed to resolve the affairs of Henry Glave, with United Drapery Stores sold to help pay Wheeler's debts. [12] [13] It had transpired that funds from United Drapery Stores had been moved to M.I.G. Trust, a company used in connection with Wheeler's investments. [14] The business was purchased by Eagle Star Insurance Company. [13] In 1932, it acquired the business of Stewart's Clothiers Ltd, bringing its number of outlets to 232. [15] Control of the John Anstee group of large drapery outlets and department stores, including Arding & Hobbs in Battersea and Owles & Beaumont, drapers in Brompton Road [16] London, was secured in 1948. [17] They purchased the Richard Shops chain of ladieswear stores in 1949 from Charles Clore for £800,000. [18] [19] A further thirty-seven shops were added to the business in 1950 when it took over the Scottish clothes chain Claude Alexander, [20] while Reading department store Heelas was bought from Charles Clore, but sold three years later to the John Lewis Partnership. [21] 1953 saw its biggest expansion through the acquisition of Prices Tailors Limited, a Leeds multiple tailoring firm. Prices had been founded in 1907 by Henry Price, and traded under the Fifty Shilling Tailors brand, with 404 stores and 12 factories across the country. [22] After the takeover by UDS, the chain was gradually renamed John Collier. [20]

Later acquisitions

In 1954 UDS acquired Alexandre Limited, a Leeds-based multiple tailor with over 88 stores owned by Bernard [23] and Jack Lyons and their families. [24] [25] Joseph Collier, the United Drapery Stores chairman, was struggling to turn around Prices Tailors and saw the Lyons as the men to turn it around. [26] Bernard Lyons took control of the menswear operations and later became group chairman and chief executive, while Jack moved to London and took on a variety of group roles. A notable takeover by the UDS group came in 1958 when Joseph Collier negotiated a takeover of the Allders department store in Croydon, [27] followed by Newcastle upon Tyne department store John Farnon. [28] The Lyons would eventually start to rebrand United Drapery Stores department store businesses under the Allders name during the 1970s and 80s. [29]

In 1959 the business failed in a takeover of rival department store group Harrods, rivalling Debenhams and eventual winner House of Fraser, after Joseph Collier sold the shares owned by United Drapery Stores to Hugh Fraser. [30] [31] UDS continued the policy of expansion through acquisitions, purchasing Cardiff department store Mackross and Alexander Sloan, an Irish clothing and household retailer in 1959, Portsmouth department store Landport Drapery Bazaar in 1960, [27] credit drapers Lawsons [32] and the Worldwide and Atlas Agency mail order businesses in 1965, [33] with the twenty-seven shops of Brooks Brothers joining the forty-five stores of the Peter Pell clothing chain in 1967. [20] It was reported that in 1966 alone UDS sold over 1,119,000 men's suits in Britain, [23] making it one of the biggest clothing retailers in Britain at that time, rivalled only by the likes of Burtons and Hepworths. [34]

Whiteleys of Bayswater, the now struggling giant department store, was purchased in 1961. [35] In 1968, United Drapery Stores asked Joseph Kaplan from London and County Securities Group to manage the bank they inherited when purchasing Whiteleys, which saw branches opened in other department stores. [36] The fur and leather retailer Swears and Wells was added to the business in 1969. [37] The mail order catalogue business of John Myers was purchased in 1971, [38] however they were beaten by Great Universal Stores to A & S Henry & Co group, owners of mail order catalogue John Noble in 1971. [39] In 1972, UDS made an offer to purchase Debenhams, along with interest from Sears plc and Tesco, but were fought off by chairman Sir Anthony Burney. [40] [41] Although its bid for Debenhams failed, the company purchased Telstar Colour Television and footwear retailer John Farmer in 1972. [42] In 1973, the business officially changed its name from United Drapery Stores to UDS and acquired the shoe repair business of Timpson for £28.6 million. [43] [44] However the company was dragged into the collapse of London and County Securities bank in the same year. [45] In 1975 the company's subsidiaries were: [46]

Final days

However, for the UDS menswear business the main rival was the Burton Group, and there were several attempts by UDS to take over Burton's, most notably in 1967. This attempt was blocked by the British Government's Monopolies and Mergers Commission as being against the public interest. [34] At this time UDS had £24.5 million of sales, compared to Burton's £47 million, and 584 menswear stores including: [51]

However by 1980, the business was starting to struggle with the growing diversification of the business, large amounts of borrowing, high interest rates and inflation and falling sales. [52] The Alexandre and Claude Alexander stores were rebranded under the John Collier chain, with a loss of 100 stores and 500 jobs. [53] The credit operations were sold to Citibank, [52] John Myers was sold to Great Universal Stores [54] while plans were made to sell John Collier to Burtons, although a management buyout was attempted but rebuffed. [55]

In 1983 the group was acquired after a takeover battle by Hanson Trust, beating Gerald Ronson's Heron International [56] with a bid of £264 million and was largely broken up. John Collier was sold to the management in a £47.5 million buyout in September 1983, [57] (before being sold onto the Burton Group in 1985). [58] Richard Shops was sold to Sir Terence Conran's Habitat Mothercare Group plc after a failed management buyout. [55] [59] Along with the sales of William Timpson and Orbit, the total return of £152 million was raised. [45]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debenhams</span> British department store chain, 1778–2021

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Home Stores</span> Former British department store chain

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GUS (retailer)</span> Former British retail, manufacturing and finance conglomerate

GUS plc was a FTSE 100 retailing, manufacturing and financial conglomerate based in the United Kingdom. GUS was an abbreviation of Great Universal Stores, the company's name before 2001, while it was also known as the Glorious Gussies amongst stockbrokers. The company started out as Universal Stores, a mail order business created by the Rose family. In 1931, Isaac Wolfson joined the mail order company and would, through a series of takeovers, turn it into a retail, manufacturing and financial conglomerate, becoming Europe's biggest mail order firm and with over 2,700 physical stores. His son, Leonard Wolfson, followed him as chairman, to be succeeded by his nephews David Wolfson (1996–2000) and Victor Barnett (2000–2002). During the 1980s, the business divested much of its physical retail and manufacturing subsidiaries under Leonard Wolfson to concentrate on mail order, property and finance. In October 2006, the company was split into two separate companies: Experian which continues to exist, and Home Retail Group which was bought by Sainsbury's in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allders</span> British department store

Allders was an independent department store operating in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanson (company)</span> British-based building materials company

Hanson UK, formerly Hanson Trust plc, is a British-based building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. The company has been a subsidiary of the German company HeidelbergCement since August 2007, and was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Fraser</span> British department store group

House of Fraser is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it was known as Fraser & Sons. The company grew steadily during the early 20th century, and after the Second World War a large number of acquisitions transformed the company into a national chain.

Arcadia Group Ltd was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (BHS), Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and Warehouse. At its peak, the group had more than 2,500 outlets in the UK and concessions in UK department stores and several hundred franchises operated internationally.

Burton is a British online clothing retailer and former high street retailer specialising in men's clothing and footwear. The company was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but became a trading name of Arcadia Group Brands Ltd, part of the Arcadia Group. Sir Philip Green acquired the Arcadia Group in 2002, and it became the sole owner of Burton. In 2020, Arcadia went into administration, putting the Burton brand up for sale; in February 2021, Boohoo.com acquired the brand from its administrators.

Harris Scarfe is an Australian retailer that sells bed linen, kitchenware, homewares, electrical appliances and apparel. It has a e-commerce retail presence in Australia and is considered a multi-channel lifestyle and homewares store.

Isidore Jack Lyons was a British financier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frasers Group</span> British sports-goods retailer

Frasers Group plc is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading predominantly under the Sports Direct brand which operates both physical outlets and online. Other retailers owned by the company include Jack Wills, GAME, Flannels, USC, Lillywhites and Evans Cycles. The company owns numerous intellectual property, including the brands Everlast, Lonsdale, Slazenger and No Fear. The group also expanded into operating fitness clubs, launching the Everlast Fitness Club chain in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swan & Edgar</span> Former department store in London

Swan & Edgar Ltd was a department store, located at Piccadilly Circus on the western side between Piccadilly and Regent Street established in the early 19th century and closed in 1982.

Richard Shops was a British high street retailer of women's fashion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Collier (clothing retailer)</span>

John Collier was a British chain of shops selling men's clothes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charterhouse Bank</span>

Charterhouse Bank was a British investment bank.

The Timpson Group is a British and Irish service retailer that has a number of different brands across its portfolio of 2,100 stores, including Timpson, Max Spielmann, Johnsons The Cleaners, Snappy Snaps, Jeeves of Belgravia, The Watch Lab and Flock Inns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Michael Ingram</span>

John Michael Ingram was an influential British menswear designer and retailer of the 1950s and '60s who founded the John Michael fashion brand, followed by a range of successful retail concepts, before establishing one of the first fashion forecasting agencies in the 1970s.

Drapery Trust formed in 1925 by Clarence Hatry, a notorious British financier. He had made his fortune in speculating on oil stocks, and had convinced investors to promote department stores and bring them under the management of a retail conglomerate. The business was acquired by Debenhams in 1927 and was run as a subsidiary until the 1970s.

Bobby & Co. was a provincial department store group based mainly in seaside towns on the south coast of England. The business operated from 1887 until 1972.

References

  1. ↑ Dennett. Laurie (1979). The Charterhouse Group, 1925-1979: A History.
  2. ↑ The Times. 27 May 1927.{{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ Corina, Maurice (1978). Fine Silks and Oak Counters: Debenhams, 1778-1978. p. 94. ISBN   9780091349103.
  4. 1 2 "Retail". The Producer: With which is Incorporated "The Consumer.". Vol. 15–16. 1932.
  5. ↑ Daily Consular and Trade Reports. 9 January 1928. p. 81.
  6. ↑ Swinson. C (2019). Share Trading, Fraud and the Crash of 1929: A Biography of Clarence Hatry. ISBN   9780429648922.
  7. ↑ The Labour Year Book. 1928. p. 150.
  8. ↑ The Balance of International Payments of the United States. 1930. p. 8.
  9. ↑ "Henry Glave Ltd". The Nation and Athenæum. Vol. 45. 1929.
  10. ↑ "United Drapery Stores". The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art. 149: 405. 1930.
  11. ↑ "Financial Results of Certain Branch Systems". Trade Information Bulletin. Vol. 676–700. 1930.
  12. ↑ "Sir Arthur Wheeler and Co". The Accountant. 85: 29. 1931.
  13. 1 2 Aris, Stephen (1971). But There are No Jews in England. p. 108. ISBN   9780812813982.
  14. ↑ "Sir Arthur Wheeler and Co". The Accountant. 84: 488. 1931.
  15. ↑ Thorburn. George (2012). Remembering the High Street: A Nostalgic Look at Famous Names. ISBN   9781844689248.
  16. ↑ Kelly's Post Office London Directory. 1891. p. 1234.
  17. ↑ Saint. Andrew (2013). @Survey of London: 1, Public, Commercial and Cultural. Battersea. p. 401. ISBN   9780300196160.
  18. ↑ Timpson, John (2015). High Street Heroes: The Story of British Retail in 50 People. ISBN   9781848319172.
  19. ↑ Lovelock, Derek (1990). Gorb, Peter (ed.). Design Management: Papers from the London Business School. pp. 151–156. ISBN   9780442303631.
  20. 1 2 3 Thorburn. Gordon (2012). Remembering the High Street: A Nostalgic Look at Famous Names. ISBN   9781844689248.
  21. ↑ Stuart Hylton (2016). Reading in 50 Buildings. ISBN   9781445659350.
  22. ↑ International Co-operative Alliance (1951). Cartel. Vol. 2–4.
  23. 1 2 "Bernard Lyons. Chairman of United Drapery Stores who oversaw the emergence of one of the pre-eminent British retail empires". The Times. 22 April 2008.
  24. ↑ See Obituary: Jack Lyons, in The Independent (London newspaper), 20 February 2008.
  25. ↑ Lawrence and Wihart (1962). Takeover: The Growth of Monopoly in Britain, 1951-61. p. 63.
  26. ↑ Goldman, Lawrence (2013). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008. p. 709. ISBN   978-0-19-967154-0.
  27. 1 2 William Mennell (1962). "Takeover: The Growth of Monopoly in Britain, 1951-61". p. 63.
  28. ↑ "Newcastle upon Tyne Drapery Business Sold". The Estates Gazette. Vol. 172. 1958. p. 183.
  29. ↑ Thomas Derdak, Tina Grant (2001). International Directory of Company Histories. Vol. 37. p. 6. ISBN   9781558624429.
  30. ↑ Co-operative Press (1961). Agenda: Co-operative Management Magazine. Vol. 9–10. p. 72.
  31. ↑ Callery, Sean (1991). Harrods, Knightsbridge: The Story of Society's Favourite Store. p. 18. ISBN   9780852239896.
  32. ↑ "Investment". The Statist: A Journal of Practical Finance and Trade. Vol. 188. 1965. p. 2.
  33. ↑ Alliance, David (2015). A Bazaar Life: The Autobiography of David Alliance. ISBN   9781849548786.
  34. 1 2 Monopolies & Mergers Commission report Archived 25 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  35. ↑ Mitzi Szereto (2021). The Best New True Crime Stories: Crimes of Passion, Obsession & Revenge. ISBN   9781642506495.
  36. ↑ Caplan, Joseph (2018). "13". The Money Man: A True Life Story of One Man's Unbridled Ambition, Downfall, and Redemption. ISBN   9781683507680.
  37. ↑ "Retail Groups". Investors' Chronicle and Stock Exchange Gazette. Vol. 14. 1970. p. 1120.
  38. ↑ "Calendar of Economic Events: July—September 1971". National Institute Economic Review. Vol. 58. 1971. pp. 76–79. doi:10.1177/002795017105800107.
  39. ↑ "Henry Battle". Investor Chronicle and Stock Exchange Gazette. Vol. 18. 1971. p. 332.
  40. ↑ A.P. Jacquemin, H.W. de Jong (2012). Welfare aspects of industrial markets. p. 66. ISBN   9781461342311.
  41. ↑ Raghubir Dayal; Peter Zachariah; Kireet Rajpal (1996). Advertising and Promotion Management. p. 70. ISBN   9788170996422.
  42. ↑ "UNITED DRAPERY STORES LIMITED". The Guardian. 11 October 1972. p. 17.
  43. ↑ David Teather (3 April 2009). "John Timpson, the cobbler who is showing his rivals a clean pair of heels". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  44. ↑ "Meet The Timpsons". www.timpson.co.uk. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  45. 1 2 George G. Blakey (2011). A History of the London Stock Market 1945-2009. ISBN   9780857191151.
  46. ↑ Lionel Faraday Gray, Jonathan Love (1975). Jane's Major Companies of Europe. p. B-162. ISBN   9780354005142.
  47. ↑ Hollander, Stanley Charles (1970). Multinational Retailing. p. 46. ISBN   9780877441007.
  48. ↑ "United Drapery Stores". The Economist. Vol. 211. 1964. p. 1526.
  49. ↑ Agenda: Co-operative Management Magazine. Vol. 9–10. 1961. p. 73.
  50. ↑ "John Myers & Co, mail order catalogue business". National Archives. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  51. ↑ Eric M. Sigsworth (1990). Montague Burton: The Tailor of Taste. p. 149. ISBN   9780719023644.
  52. 1 2 Dean F. Berry, Sebastian Green (2016). Cultural, Structural and Strategic Change in Management Buyouts. p. 161. ISBN   9781349215591.
  53. ↑ Investors Chronicle. Vol. 56. 1981. p. 887.
  54. ↑ The Monopolies and Mergers Commission (January 1983). "The Great Universal Stores PLC" (PDF). The Great Universal Stores PLC and Empire Stores (Bradford) PLC: a report on the existing and proposed mergers. The Competition Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  55. 1 2 Dean F. Berry, Sebastian Green (2016). Cultural, Structural and Strategic Change in Management Buyouts. pp. 163–164. ISBN   9781349215591.
  56. ↑ Gerald Ronson, Jeffrey Robinson (2010). Gerald Ronson: Leading from the Front: My Story. p. 114. ISBN   9781907195204.
  57. ↑ Sebastian Green; Dean F. Berry (1991). "The John Collier Story". Cultural, Structural and Strategic Change in Management Buyouts. pp. 149–175. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-21559-1_7. ISBN   9781349215614.
  58. ↑ Retail Week's Top 500: 2004
  59. ↑ "Habitat steps in on Richard Shops Deal". The Financial Times. 1 October 1983. p. 1.
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.