It’s worth playing the long game

Actually, the Penny Bazaar was a giant step from Michael Marks’ even more humble beginnings as a pedlar peddling his wares around God’s own country.

Finally, Sainsbury’s is playing the historical card, recalling its origins 140 years ago in a store on Drury Lane, complete with a couple of cows in the back yard. From such acorns do mighty oaks grow. A shame that the Woolworths tree developed Dutch elm disease tantalisingly short of its centenary.

Anniversary celebrations are certainly a great way to lift the gloom that can easily prevail in 2009. And such anniversaries underline to shoppers and observers alike that they are dealing with a company of substance – one that has weathered many economic cycles, and usually one that has morphed through several styles of corporate ownership.

What can one take from this? Successful retail entrepreneurs can, or at least could, start from the very lowest rung of the commercial ladder. Perhaps a century or more ago these entrepreneurs did not carry such a deadweight of burdensome legislation, not to mention the spectre of 52 per cent-plus taxation.

It’s hard to conceive of a retail concept now in Covent Garden with two cows in the back, and no hi-viz vests in sight. Not to mention the problems of recruiting dairymaids in central London, even in a recession.

Which businesses on the present UK high street will be surviving when we are all feeding worms? As a quasi-investment banker, part of me grieves to ponder whether one of the attributes may be that the survivors stay out of the pressure cooker of public company ownership.

I am thinking of the likes of Wilkinson (79 years old and counting). And what about the ultimate recession-proof business – Timpson – looking very strong and youthful
for its 144 years? Private ownership, at least where the entrepreneur is not just looking for a quick flip, could well be the most suitable greenhouse for raising these longer-lasting trees.

The owner can take a measured approach to investment decisions. And if they are measured enough, that may mean they do not become so beholden to banks that the sudden withdrawal of credit causes a possibly terminal disease. Crucially, private ownership also means the drawbridge can be pulled up at the first sight of marauders.

The UK high street in 2009 looks like an unstable mix of cricketers: those who are playing the one-day game (and rueing their push for speedy runs); and more traditional players, still devoted to the five-day game.

The latter iteration may provide less drama, but requires more strategic input. Here’s hoping the five-day game flourishes and we have many more major retail anniversaries to celebrate.