Littlewoods was a retail and football betting company founded in Liverpool, England, by John Moores in 1923. By the 1980s, it had grown to become the largest private company in Europe but subsequently declined in the face of increased competition from rivals and the Internet. The original company – employing 4,000 people – was wound up in 2005; however, its brand name is retained by The Very Group as the online retailer Littlewoods.com.

Littlewoods was among the key retailers to relocate from town-centre stores to new developments, mostly in enterprise zones, to take advantage of the financial incentives they offered.[6] The Merry Hill store, opened on 14 November 1989, was a notable example. The catalogue market was transformed with the emergence of the Internet and phone transactions slowly diminished after the mid-1990s. It was around this time that Littlewoods began closing its stores, with the outlet at Merry Hill in the West Midlands being one of the first outlets to close in 1996.

In October 2002, the Moores family sold the shopping and catalogue business to David and Frederick Barclay for £750M.

In 2004 Littlewoods was merged with Kays Catalogues to create the Littlewoods Shop Direct Group (now Shop Direct Group). The amalgamation of the two businesses led to the closure of many of both brands’ distribution centres. Kays main centres in Worcester and Leeds were closed, while Littlewood’s main operations in Liverpool were cut back.

The index was closed down in early 2005, and at the time of its failure, it was noted that it had not made a profit for 18 out of its 20 years of operation and was running at a loss of £100M. Half its standalone stores were sold to rival Argos and concessions in its Littlewoods stores were shut.

The closure of 119 Littlewoods stores was also announced in 2005. Around 40 stores were sold to the Primark retail business, owned by ABF.