Beales (department store)
| Public | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department Store |
| Founded | 1881 |
| Founder | John Elmes Beale |
| Headquarters | Bournemouth, United Kingdom |
|
Number of locations
|
30 |
| Subsidiaries | J E Beale plc |
| Website | www.beales.co.uk |
Beales is an English department store chain, currently operating 30 branches. The flagship store, Beales in Bournemouth, was established as The Fancy Fair by John Elmes Beale in 1881 and is currently the biggest department store in Dorset.
The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Contents
History
Beales was established in 1881 by John Elmes Beale when he opened a store in Bournemouth.
The group acquired the Bentalls department stores in Ealing (closed October 2007), Tonbridge and Worthing from Fenwick in 2002 and closed its Walton-on-Thames store in January 2006.
A new Beales store opened in Horsham in September 2006 in premises formerly occupied by Allders.
On 4 June 2010 Beales acquired the Robbs department store in Hexham from Vergo Retail which was in administration, for £250,000.[1]
In August 2010 Beales expanded further by acquiring the Westgate Department Store in Rochdale from the Anglia Regional Co-operative Society.[2]
As of 5 April 2011, Beales acquired 19 additional Westgate stores, securing its long-term future.[3]
In May 2012 Beales announced it would be opening an outlet store in the old T.J. Hughes store in The Mall Maidstone. This store closed in June 2013.[4] In addition a branch in Skipton closed in November 2012, a branch in Cinderford closed in July 2013 [1].
In summer 2014, the large Harrogate store closed for re-development of the land by the landlord
Current operations
Beales is a member of Associated Independent Stores (a buying group) which enables Beales to benefit from the cost savings of buying textiles and other non-food goods in bulk.
Department store locations
Current locations
- Abingdon (formerly Westgate)
- Beccles (formerly Westgate)
- Bedford (formerly E Braggins & Son)
- Bishop Auckland (formerly Westgate)
- Bolton (formerly Whitakers)
- Bournemouth
- Chipping Norton (formerly Westgate)
- Diss (formerly Westgate)
- Hexham (formerly Robbs)
- Horsham (formerly Allders)
- Keighley (formerly Sunwin House and latterly Westgate)
- Kendal (formerly J R Taylor and originally Musgroves)
- King's Lynn (formerly Westgate)
- Lowestoft (formerly Westgate)
- Mansfield (formerly Westgate)
- Peterborough (formerly Westgate)
- Poole (Formerly Brians)
- Redcar (formerly Westgate)
- Rochdale (formerly Sunwin House and latterly Westgate)
- Saffron Walden (formerly Westgate)
- Skegness (formerly Westgate)
- Southport (formerly Broadbents & Boothroyds and originally Boothroyds)
- Spalding (formerly Westgate)
- St Neots (formerly Westgate)
- Tonbridge (formerly Bentalls)
- Winchester
- Wisbech (formerly Westgate)
- Worthing (formerly Bentalls)
- Yeovil (formerly Denners)
Former locations
- Cinderford (formerly Westgate, closed July 2013)
- Ealing (formerly Bentalls, closed October 2007)
- Harrogate (formerly Sunwin House and latterly Westgate, closed 2014. Building demolished 2015)
- Maidstone (Beales Outlet and formerly a TJ Hughes & Owen Owen closed June 2013)
- Skipton (formerly Sunwin House and latterly Westgate, closed November 2012)
- Walton-on-Thames (formerly Grant Warden, closed January 2006)
See also
List of department stores of the United Kingdom
References
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