Retail Week's 25th anniversary: Two decades of births, marriages and farewells

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New arrivals and mega-mergers have shaped the industry, while some well-known names have disappeared.

Stores

Retail is a volatile industry - for every soaring success another brand may crash and burn.

New companies and big-name deals are common. The sector has been constantly renewed with fresh ideas during Retail Week’s lifetime. Myriad trends have underpinned these movements. For SuperGroup founder Julian Dunkerton, the birth of the brand has been the key change. “Selling brand identity to a mass market is a relatively new phenomenon,” he says. “There is now a much stronger connection between the consumer and the brands they want to identify themselves with.”

For Sainsbury’s group commercial director Mike Coupe, the birth of the discounters was a pivotal moment. He says: “The big grocery chains responded well to meet fire with fire. If you look at all the discounters now, there’s still less market share than in the 1990s.

You could argue that the people who have gained the most are the shoppers.”

For others, Asia’s manufacturing growth was a key trend. “Without the emergence of Asian supply chains it’s very difficult to see how the likes of Primark and Asos would be in existence,” says IGD chief economist James Walton.

Beginnings

Carphone Warehouse: 1989

Charles Dunstone

A year after Retail Week launched, Sir Charles Dunstone founded Carphone Warehouse. Dunstone moved the business beyond its mobile phone roots into telecoms with the launch of Talk Talk in 2003 and the wider electronics market when it teamed up with Best Buy in 2007 - although that venture failed to take off in the UK.

Poundland: 1990

For a company that was only founded in 1990 to have 400 stores today is a sign of both its success and of the times. The hardship of the last five years has benefited Poundland. Its turnover surged 21.6% to £780m over 2011 and international expansion is under way.

Signet: 1993

The name Signet was adopted in 1993 for jeweller Ratners. The change followed Gerald Ratner’s infamous 1991 PR disaster in which he described some of his company’s jewellery as “total crap”. Today Signet does most of its business in the US where it owns Kay and Jared.

Amazon: 1994

Arguably the most influential new business of the past two decades and founded on the verge of the global ecommerce revolution, Amazon has become the world’s largest online retailer. It has challenged retailers in almost every sector.

Arcadia: 1997

Arcadia was created in 1997 after the Burton Group was demerged, eventually opening the door for Sir Philip Green to acquire what one analyst described as “the rump” of the group.

Debenhams: 1997

One of the Burton Group fascias, department store chain Debenhams was released when the group demerged in 1997. Debenhams was floated, taken private and eventually relisted. Debenhams has been on an aggressive international expansion trail.

Selfridges: 1998

Selfridges’ famous store has stood on Oxford Street since 1909. In 1998 it was demerged from parent Sears and floated on the London Stock Exchange. Since then it has been taken private and goes from strength to strength.

Asos: 2000

Asos has become the undisputed champion of British online fashion. Co-founder Nick Robertson was awarded an OBE in 2011.

Ocado: 2000

Founded by Tim Steiner, Jason Gissing and Jonathan Faiman, Ocado is yet to make a full-year pre-tax profit but has been prominent in the growth and direction of online food shopping.

99p Stores: 2001

Newer on the scene than its fractionally dearer rival, 99p Stores, run by the Lalani family, was set up in 2001 and has a turnover of more than £269m.

Burberry: 2002

From humble beginnings in 1856, Burberry has been a great British fashion growth story. It was acquired by Great Universal Stores (GUS) in 1955 and floated in 2002. The business was built up from the late 1990s by Rose Marie Bravo, who then handed over the reins to Angela Ahrendts.

Superdry: 2003

Superdry has grown into a global phenomenon since the brand was founded and is now an international retailer.

Marriages

B&Q and Castorama: 1998

The Anglo-French tie-up was a landmark moment for B&Q owner Kingfisher. It marked a big step forward in Kingfisher’s overseas presence.

Asda and Walmart: 1999

Walmart

Walmart bought UK grocer Asda for £6.7bn, seeing off a rival bid from Kingfisher. The marriage has been a largely happy one, and profits at both Walmart and its British subsidiary rose in the first quarter of this year.

Morrisons and Safeway: 2004

It might not seem like eight years since Safeway disappeared altogether from the UK high street. Morrisons’ acquisition of the rival grocer was one of the most significant deals of its time - although the merger did not go smoothly at first.

Littlewoods and GUS Home Shopping: 2005

The merger of Littlewoods and GUS Home Shopping resulted in the creation of Shop Direct. Today the retailer has left much of its catalogue origins behind as it focuses on ecommerce.

Home Retail: 2006

Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail was demerged from GUS in 2006. The retailer had a torrid time during the recession and today the flagship Argos business is being reinvented as a digitally led operation under new managing director John Walden.

Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse: 2007

The tie-up between Sir Charles Dunstone’s Carphone Warehouse and US giant Best Buy was intended to revolutionise electricals retailing in the UK. Tough trading conditions and the determined fight back by Dixons derailed the plans. The Best Buy UK big boxes were shut.

The Co-op and Somerfield: 2009

Completed in 2009, The Co-operative’s Somerfield acquisition for £1.56bn and subsequent re-brandprogramme was designed to propel the mutual into the grocery big league.

Boots and Walgreens: 2012

Last year came the sensational news that US drugstore chain Walgreens was to merge with Europe’s largest chemist, Boots, in a £10bn deal. The combined businesses have more than 11,000 stores.

Farewells

Athena: 1995

Taken out of administration, the retailer was reborn as Vivarti,a mainly online business with a handful of stores.

Radio Rentals: 2000

Born in a bygone era, Radio Rentals barely survived into the 21st century. It was merged with Granada Rentals in 2000 and rebranded as Boxclever.

C&A: 2000

Although C&A and its 113 stores haven’t existed in the UK since 2000, after 78 years on the high street the Dutch retailer is still going strong overseas and has stores throughout Europe.

Our Price: 2003

Before Virgin Megastores and HMV ran into trouble, music retailer Our Price disappeared from the high street after 30 years.

Kwik Save: 2007

With the increasing dominance of the big supermarkets and the rise of discount own-brand products,
the writing was on the wall for Kwik Save. But under new owner Costcutter, a scaled down, convenience format of the same name emerged last year.

Virgin Megastores and Zavvi: 2007 and 2008

The once ubiquitous Virgin Megastore rebranded to Zavvi in 2007 after its sale. Zavvi entered administration in 2008 but was bought by online group The Hut.

Woolworths: 2008

There was a time when Woolworths was as much a part of British life as fish and chips. But a crippling rent bill, thanks to sale and leaseback deals on most of the retailer’s 800 stores, and fierce competition from more agile online competitors finally forced the name to disappear from the high street in 2008.

MFI: 2008

Another retailer to have moved from bricks to clicks, MFI’s store portfolio proved too heavy a burden as sales plummeted. After collapsing, the retailer was reborn online in 2011.

Focus DIY: 2011

Focus DIY

The misery in the housing market proved too much for Focus DIY. Following years of weak sales across the sector, Focus DIY and its 175 stores were finally placed into administration in 2011.

Comet: 2012

Having been on the UK high street since the early 1930s, Comet’s latter day fortunes flagged and it hit the wall while owned by private investment firm OpCapita.