Superdry plc (stylised as SUPERDRY®︎冒険魂) is a UK branded clothing company and owner of the Superdry label. Superdry products combine vintage Americana styling with Japanese inspired graphics. Cult Clothing Co was established by Ian Hibbs and Julian Dunkerton in Cheltenham in 1985, at which time it was trading as “Cult Clothing”. During this period, Dunkerton … Read more
Hugo Boss AG, often styled as BOSS, is a German luxury fashion house headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg. The company sells clothing, accessories, footwear and fragrances. Hugo Boss is one of the largest German clothing companies, with global sales of €2.9 billion in 2019. The company was founded in 1924 by Hugo Boss and originally produced … Read more
Furniture Village is a British furniture retailer. It has over fifty stores throughout the United Kingdom, the first of which was opened in Abingdon, and also sells online. The company is headquartered in Slough. It is the largest privately owned furniture chain in the United Kingdom. Their target market is the upper end of the … Read more
ZARA is a Spanish apparel retailer based in Arteixo, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. The company specialises in fast fashion, and products include clothing, accessories, shoes, swimwear, beauty, and perfumes. It is the largest company in the Inditex group, the world’s largest apparel retailer. Zara stores have men’s and women’s clothing as well as children’s clothing … Read more
Dunelm Group Plc is a British home furnishings retailer operating throughout the United Kingdom. One of the largest homewares retailers in the United Kingdom, The company headquarters are based in Syston, England. It also has its own factory for curtains, blinds and accessories, based in Leicester, England. Dunelm was founded in 1979 by Bill Adderley … Read more
River Island is a London-headquartered high street fashion brand, which operates in a number of worldwide markets. Set up in 1948, by Bernard Lewis and his brothers in London. River Island is a private company owned by the Lewis family. There are over 350 River Island stores across the UK, Ireland and internationally (over 250 … Read more
Victorian Plumbing is a British eCommerce company listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The company specialises in bathroom related products and is thought to be the largest company to float on the AIM. The organisation has no physical retail outlets. Instead, it stocks its products at central warehouses, sells them via … Read more
Richer Sounds is a British home entertainment retailer that operates through a chain of 51 stores and online, mainly in England. The business was 100% owned by Julian Richer, the founder and managing director of the company, who in 2019 sold 60% of its shares to an employee ownership trust. Richer Sounds formally began trading … Read more
The Range is a multi-channel retailer selling products in the home, garden, and leisure categories, with over 180 stores in the United Kingdom & Ireland. In 1980, Chris Dawson started business as an open-air market trader in Plymouth, South West England. His first physical retail store opened in 1989 at Sugar Mill Business Park on … Read more
Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand and Indonesia. The parent company, The Boots Company plc, merged with Alliance UniChem in 2006 to form Alliance Boots. … Read more
Europe’s largest golf retailer. They have 99 stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and they are still growing! They stock a full range of golf equipment for golfers of all levels, including irons, drivers, putters, package sets, balls, shoes, clothing, plus much more. Both in-store and online, they have expert teams on … Read more
cinch takes the faff out of finding and buying a used car that’s right for you. You can browse through thousands of cars in their range – they have quality checked each and every one – or try their Matchmaker tool and narrow the search to the things that matter most to you. Once you’ve … Read more
Cazoo is a British online car retailer based in London, England and founded in 2018. Cazoo Ltd is an appointed representative of ITC Compliance Limited (ITC) which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (ITC’s firm reference number is 313486). Permitted activities include entering into regulated hire agreements, advising on and arranging general … Read more
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by The Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton and was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to its dominance of … Read more
Dyson Limited is a British technology company established in the United Kingdom by James Dyson in 1991. It designs and manufactures household appliances such as vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, hand dryers, bladeless fans, heaters, hairdryers, and lights. In 1974, James Dyson bought a Hoover Junior vacuum cleaner, which lost suction after a period of use. … Read more
Specsavers Optical Group Ltd is a British multinational optical retail chain, which operates mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australasia and the Nordic countries. The chain offers optician services for eyesight testing and sells glasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses. It also sells hearing aids. In the United Kingdom in 2012, it had the largest single market … Read more
Vax UK Ltd is a brand that manufactures electrical goods and cleaning products in the floor-care and air treatment sectors, and which has its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The brand is owned by a company called TTI Co. Ltd Group, which is based in Hong Kong. Vax UK Ltd has its main headquarters and … Read more
B&Q Limited is a British multinational DIY and home improvement retailing company, headquartered in Eastleigh, United Kingdom, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kingfisher plc. Founded by Richard Block and David Quayle in 1969 originally as Block & Quayle, the retail chain offers over 40,000 products across 300 physical stores and online shops. B&Q were … Read more
Toolstation is a multi-channel retailer of tools and building materials. It has more than 500 branches in the UK, 65 in the Netherlands and 23 in France. It was bought by Travis Perkins in 2014. The managing director is James Mackenzie. Toolstation was formed in February 2003 by Mark Goddard-Watts, one of the founding family … Read more
Wickes is a home improvement retailer and garden centre, based in the United Kingdom with more than 230 stores throughout the country. Its main business is the sale of supplies and materials, for homeowners and the building trade. Wickes was founded by Henry Dunn Wickes, in Michigan, United States in 1854, and in 1972, Wickes … Read more
New Look is a British global fashion retailer with a chain of high street shops. It was founded in 1969. The chain sells womenswear, menswear, and clothing for teens. New Look was founded by Tom Singh in Taunton, Somerset, in 1969. Since then the company has expanded and previously operated across a chain of over … Read more
Currys is a British electrical retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by Dixons Carphone and selling home electronics and household appliances. Established as a bicycle retailer in 1927, Currys expanded the range of goods sold and from the 1960s became a major retailer of household electrical items. In 1984 the … Read more
AO World (commonly called “AO” or “AO.com”) is an electrical retailer based in Bolton, England. It operates in the United Kingdom (ao.com) and Germany (ao.de) specialising in household appliances and electricals. The company was founded under the name Appliances Online by John Roberts in 2000. Prior to this, during a conversation in a Bolton pub, … Read more
Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand and Indonesia. The parent company, The Boots Company plc, merged with Alliance UniChem in 2006 to form Alliance Boots. … Read more
JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as JD Sports or JD, is a British sports fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England with shops throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. The letters JD in JD Sports stand for the initials of the founders of the … Read more
Halfords Group PLC is the UK’s largest retailer of motoring and cycling products and services. Through Halfords Autocentre, they provide vehicle servicing, MOT, maintenance and repairs in the United Kingdom. As of June 2021, Halfords has 404 stores, 3 Performance Cycling stores (trading as Tredz and Giant), 374 garages (trading as Halfords Autocentres, McConechys and … Read more
H&M is a Swedish multinational clothing retail company known for its fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers, and children. As of November 2019, H&M operates in 74 countries with over 5,000 stores under the various company brands, with 126,000 full-time equivalent positions. It is the second-largest global clothing retailer, behind Spain-based Inditex (parent company of … Read more
Klarna Bank AB, commonly referred to as Klarna, is a Swedish fintech company that provides online financial services such as payments for online storefronts and direct payments along with post-purchase payments. The company has more than 3,500 employees, most of them working at the headquarters in Stockholm and Berlin. In 2019, the company handled about … Read more
Vision Express is a British company established in 1988 that sells spectacles and contact lenses. The company opened its first store in 1988, at the MetroCentre, Gateshead, quickly followed by several other stores. In October 1993 US Shoe Corp Cincinnati sold seven of its LensCrafters’ superstores in the United Kingdom to Vision Express. In 1995, … Read more
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks’s or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, home products and food products, mostly of its own label. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a … Read more
Costco Wholesale Corporation (doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation that operates a chain of membership-only (needing a membership to shop there) big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2020, Costco was the fifth largest retailer in the world, and the world’s largest retailer of choice … Read more
SPAR, originally DESPAR, is a Dutch multinational franchise that manages independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, and now consists of more than 13,320 stores in 48 countries. The company’s name is an acronym of the slogan “Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig”, … Read more
IKEA is a Swedish-origin Dutch (Netherlands)-headquartered multinational conglomerate that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories, among other goods and home services. Founded in Sweden in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been the world’s largest furniture retailer since 2008. The brand used by the group is an acronym that consists … Read more
Checkatrade.com is the trading name of Vetted Ltd and a subsidiary of HomeServe. The site operates as a directory of vetted and recommended tradespeople. It was founded by Kevin Byrne BCAb and originally headquartered in Selsey, West Sussex, before moving to Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 2019 following its acquisition by HomeServe. Checkatrade, originally founded as “Scout”, … Read more
Nisa Retail Limited is a brand and groceries wholesaler operating in the United Kingdom. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Co-operative Group Limited. It was formerly a mutual organisation owned by its members and operating “…like a co-operative, using the collective buying power of the large group of members to negotiate deals with suppliers”. … Read more
One Stop shops are owned by Tesco One Stop, which includes some of the smallest shops (smaller than a Tesco Express), was (until 2018, when the first Jack’s store opened) the only Tesco shop format in the UK that did not include the word Tesco in its name. The brand, along with the original shops, … Read more
Screwfix is the United Kingdom’s largest multi-channel retailer of trade tools, accessories and hardware products. Founded in 1979 as the Woodscrew Supply Company, the company was acquired in July 1999 by Kingfisher plc, which also owns B&Q Based in Yeovil, Somerset, Screwfix started life as the Woodscrew Supply Company in 1979. The company’s first mail … Read more
Next plc (styled as next) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Next is the largest clothing retailer by sales in … Read more
Schuh (pronounced “shoe”) is a footwear retailer based in Livingston, Scotland. It has 132 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is predominantly a branded shoe stockist, selling over 80 brands, including Converse, Vans, UGG, Nike, Adidas as well as its own Schuh label. 1981: opened the first store on Edinburgh’s North Bridge … Read more
John Lewis & Partners (formerly and commonly known as John Lewis) is a brand of high-end department stores operating throughout Great Britain, with concessions also located in the Republic of Ireland and Australia. The brand sells general merchandise as part of the employee-owned mutual organisation known as the John Lewis Partnership, the largest co-operative in … Read more
Asda Stores Ltd. is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorkshire. It expanded into Southern England during the 1970s and 1980s and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other … Read more
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc, trading as Morrisons, is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom and is headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. As of February 2021, Morrisons employed 110,000 employees and served around 11 million customers each week. The financial results have been as follows: 52/3 weeks to Turnover (£’m) Profit/(loss) … Read more
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury’s, is the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 16.0% share of the supermarket sector. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company became the largest retailer of groceries in 1922. In 1995, Tesco overtook Sainsbury’s to become … Read more
In 2014 Iceland announced a sub-brand, Food Warehouse, a larger wholesale-type store which sells the same items as other Iceland stores, but in bulk. As of 2021 there are 140 Food Warehouse stores. Iceland Foods Ltd (trading as Iceland) is a British supermarket chain headquartered in Deeside, Wales. It has an emphasis on the sale … Read more
Iceland Foods Ltd (trading as Iceland) is a British supermarket chain headquartered in Deeside, Wales. It has an emphasis on the sale of frozen foods, including prepared meals and vegetables. They also sell non-frozen grocery items such as produce, meat, dairy, and dry goods. The company has an approximate 2.2% share of the UK food … Read more
Aldi is the common brand of two German family-owned discount supermarket chains with over 10,000 stores in 20 countries and an estimated combined turnover of more than €50 billion. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946 when they took over their mother’s store in Essen. The business was split into … Read more
Tesco Clubcard (commonly referred and branded as Clubcard) is the loyalty card of British supermarket chain Tesco. The Clubcard scheme operates in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and several other countries. As of 2017 it has over 17 million users in the United Kingdom alone. When shopping at Tesco or using … Read more
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (pronounced LID-əl) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 12,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, which also operates the hypermarket chain Kaufland. Lidl is the chief competitor of a similar German discount chain Aldi … Read more
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