UK Retail History Trivia Quiz

Answer: International

International had small, fairly upmarket shops, originally being a tea company in 1878. When taken over by BAT in 1972 the name was changed from International Tea Co to International Stores to reflect the move to groceries> It was then taken over by Dee Corp in 1984, before becoming Gateway in 1988 for a while, then Somerfield, and ultimately being bought by the Co-Operative in 2009.

Answer: Mac Market

Macfisheries, with their familiar blue signs, were the biggest national fishmongers in Britain (in fact one of very few altogether). They took over Premier supermarkets in 1964, originally naming them Mac Food Centres. In 1979, after falling profits, the whole concern was sold to International Stores, who themselves were subsequently taken over a number of times.

Answer: Walton, Hassel and Port

These posh grocers were certainly familiar around London, and around the 1970s left the High Streets to diversify into property letting before vanishing into oblivion. Besides a few historical references it is almost impossible to find any material on them any more, so I have added a little now myself. Payantake were my local grocers, I don't even know if there were any others but they were only a few doors away from Walton's.

Answer: Wallace Heaton

Opening originally in New Bond Street in the centre of London's Mayfair, Wallace Heaton was first a pharmacy before moving into photography, building up the business across and beyond London. It ended up supplying the royal family before being taken over by Dixons, who in turn closed their doors in the early 21st century.

Answer: Maynards

Maynards had a long period of running confectioners as well as manufacturing many sweets including the famous winegums, but are now part of Cadburys (Kraft since 2010) and now stick to manufacturing except for a single shop in Filey.
Maynards was founded in Stamford Hill, London by brothers Charles and Tom Maynard, in 1896 and moved to larger premises in 1906 in nearby Harringay. Charles' wife Sarah sold the sweets in the adjoining shop. Around that time Charles junior suggested to his father they made wine gums, and although his father was a teetotal Methodist allowed them to be manufactured from 1909 as they contained no actual alcohol.

In 1990 they combined with both nearby Barratt's liquorice (not the coincidentally named Basset's who make the Allsorts) and Trebor, while the London factory closed in 1998 and was transferred north to the Sheffield plant which was opened in 1991.

Answer: Do It All

Do It All was opened by WH Smiths in 1979, and sold to Boots for a short time before being taken over by Focus in 1998. Its name was merged to Focus Do It All, before dropping the old name altogether in 2001 to become Focus. The DIY chains have changed hands between many related companies since, including Wickes and Travis Perkins.

Answer: Freeman Hardy Willis

Originally Freeman, Hardy & Willis, the "&" was dropped in 1962 to make the name look more striking. They also took over Dolcis, followed by Lilley and Skinner, before closing finally in 1996. Half the business was sold to Hush Puppies and half to an entrepreneur from Sheffield who was convicted of fraud a year later for bribing officials to gain the required loans.

The fate of the company was sealed as a result.

Answer: John Collier

The drums on the TV advert began the slogan 'John Collier, John Collier, the window to watch' in the 1960s, but sadly not enough people watched it to see it go the same way as the others on the list, selling out to Burton's in 1985.

Answer: Bejam

Brian, Eric, John and Millie Apthorp gave their initials to the Bejam name, and the family business, with familiar yellow on blue signs, was seen on shopping streets around Britain. Opening originally in Stanmore, North London in 1968, in 1989 they all suddenly vanished and were replaced with red on white signs saying 'Iceland'.

Although the Icelandic banks and companies did take over many high street stores in the 2000s, ultimately ending in the credit crunch when they failed in unison, this Iceland was the brainchild of a small retailer who somehow found the means to carry out the largest in proportion UK takeover of a company, being three times larger than itself, and is still going strong in 2011.

Answer: TK Maxx

TK Maxx, also called TJ Maxx in the USA and elsewhere, is a fairly recent UK arrival from around the 90s, and due to buying old fashion lines and excess stock are able to turn out very good quality brands for a fraction of their original prices and as a result are currently very successful.

Despite Woolworth's being American, the more relaxed British approach often left customers searching for elusive staff, and even after changing to the checkout system rather than staff taking money as and when they could be located, newer firms like TK Maxx and the new phenomenon of pound shops took much of their good value goods business away from them, forcing complete closure in January 2009 after no customers could be found to buy any or all the business.

Wendy's had a short lived foray into the UK with branches mainly in Central London, and closed altogether in 2007, after keeping it's final store open till then after the others closed in 2000. C and A (standing for Clemens and August Brenninckmeyer) is still at 2011 going strong on continental Europe, but wound up its UK business in 2001 after arriving here in 1922, blaming high rents and tough out of town competition.