Allders in Croydon, the fourth largest department store in Britain

Allders is a 'full service' department store in Central Croydon. It had previously been the flagship store of a large chain of department stores in the United Kingdom with its head office in Croydon. In 2005 the chain went into administration and was largely broken up and sold off. Croydons main shopping street, North End, taken 5 Feb 2005 File links The following pages link to this file: London Borough of Croydon Wikipedia:List of images/Places/Europe/United Kingdom/Cities/London/Croydon Allders Categories: GFDL images ... Croydons main shopping street, North End, taken 5 Feb 2005 File links The following pages link to this file: London Borough of Croydon Wikipedia:List of images/Places/Europe/United Kingdom/Cities/London/Croydon Allders Categories: GFDL images ... The interior of a typical Macys department store. ... For other uses, see Croydon (disambiguation). ...

Joshua Allder

Allders, was opened in 1862 at 102 and 103 North End, central Croydon, as a 'linen draper and silk mercer' by Joshua Allder (1838–1904) from Walworth who had served his apprenticeship in Croydon. His shop was diverse, with special offers on silk dresses but also a mourning dress section, and departments offering lower-cost items such as buttons and ribbons. This diversity showed a shrewdness in business and an understanding of his mostly female customers. , St. ...

Croydon was a growing town, and Allder's business grew with it. It was not long before the shop expanded into 104, 106 and 107 North End - he had to wait for some twenty years to take 105, a bakery. The wealth Allder made allowed him to play a prominent part in the local community, on the Local Board of Health, on the council of the County Borough of Croydon for nine years and in the non-conformist church community. He supported greater rights for his workers, being instrumental in getting local stores closed for a half-day on Wednesdays. Joshua Allder died in 1904 leaving a store which had already expanded beyond clothing and haberdashery to sell glass and porcelain, for example. In English history, a non-conformist is any member of a Protestant congregation not affiliated with the Church of England. ...

His main Residence in Pampisford Road now houses Regina Ceoli RC school, and two cul-de-sacs nearby were named Allder Way, and Joshua Close

Growth and decline

In 1908, Allder's family sold the business to J.W. Holdron and F.C. Bearman, owners of stores in Peckham and Leytonstone, respectively. They developed the store into fifty departments with 500 staff and owned the business until 1921. It then passed to the Lawrence family, under whose control it became a limited company. In 1926, the famous North End facade was created, uniting the frontage of the premises for the first time. In 1932, the Arcade from North End to George Street was completed, which proved very popular with its varied concessions, a herald of shopping malls of the future. Allders was considered a pioneering retailer. , Peckham is an area of London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, located 3. ... , Leytonstone is a place in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, in East London, England. ...

The building suffered considerable damage in World War II but never closed. The refurbishment saw improvements, including the takeover of a cinema auditorium as the gift department and Croydon's first escalators in 1954. By 1958, however, the Lawrence family were forced to sell as a result of death duties incurred after the death of Daniel Arthur Lawrence, managing director. The store was acquired by Jack & Bernard Lyons' United Drapery Stores, owners of the Richard chain of fashion shops, John Collier, Alexandre Tailors and several department stores. The son of D.A Lawrence, S John Lawrence was kept on by UDS as MD. Allders continued to expand, reaching a £1 million turnover in 1958 and £3 million by 1963. Fashion's importance declined, with household items taking a greater role. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

In the 1960s, there was considerable change in Croydon, particularly the construction of the Whitgift Centre to the north side of Allders (into which the store expanded) and the creation of the St George's Walk development. Transport and lifestyle changes, however, led to greater competition with the West End and further improvements were required to modernise the store. The section of the store fronting George Street was rebuilt and expanded, retaining a Victorian facade, alongside a new addition. Rebuilding works continued into Dingwall Avenue and by 1976, Allders had 1,700 staff and 500,000 square feet (46,000 m²) of floor space. It was a Croydon landmark and the fourth largest department store in the UK after Harrods, Selfridges and John Lewis in Oxford Street [1]. It boasted the largest Carpet Department in Europe amongst other claims. Croydon was by this time a major retail centre. The Whitgift Centre is a large shopping centre in Croydon, London, which officially opened in 1970. ... The interior of Covent Garden Market in the West End The West End of London is an area of Central London, England, containing many of the citys major tourist attractions, businesses, and administrative headquarters. ... The Harrods storefront Harrods in 1909 The opulent Egyptian-style clothing department at Harrods, London Harrods in Buenos Aires Harrods is a department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, UK. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods... Selfridges in Birmingham. ... John Lewis on Oxford Street, London is the flagship department store of the John Lewis Partnership. ... Oxford Street, with Centre Point in the background Oxford Street in 1875, looking west from the junction with Duke Street. ...

Allders immediate competitor, Kennards, was renamed Debenhams in 1973 (along with many other Debenhams stores). To compete with the central buying and advertising of Debenhams, and other larger groups, the department stores owned by UDS were all gradually renamed 'Allders'. This process began with the renaming of Shinners of Sutton in 1979 and later included Hinds of Eltham, Medhursts of Bromley, Pages of Camberley, Willis Ludlow of Hull and Landport Drapery Bazaar (LDB) in Portsmouth. Only Arding & Hobbs at Clapham Junction in London and the furnishing store of Clover at Kirkstall in Leeds retained their original identities. A new geometric logo of ten orange 'A's arranged in a circle on brown and cream coloured stationery, bags and carpets appeared across the group together with the phrase 'All that a great store should be'. Debenhams plc (LSE: DEB) is a retailer with a chain of department stores based in the United Kingdom. ... View of Sutton town centre, as seen from the top of the Gibson Road car park. ... Eltham is a place in the London Borough of Greenwich. ... Bromley is the principal town in the London Borough of Bromley, England. ... , Camberley is a town in Surrey, England, situated southwest of central London, in the corridor between the M3 and M4 motorways. ... Hull or Kingston upon Hull is a British city situated on the north bank of the Humber estuary. ... For other places with the same name, see Portsmouth (disambiguation). ... Clapham Junction is a railway station located in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Kirkstall Abbey Kirkstall is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, and is located next to the River Aire, nestled between the river and the suburbs of Headingley to the North, Horsforth to the North West and Burley to the South East. ... For other uses, see Leeds (disambiguation). ...

In 1983, the Lyons family sold the UDS Group to Hanson plc and Allders became a flagship company of the group, with Lord Hanson appearing on Allders' roof in TV adverts. During this time, Allders expanded with new stores opening in Basildon and Chatham and in many international airports as duty-free concessions. A new 'Fourth Floor' was built on the roof of the Croydon store to house a new Audio and Television Department and two new restaurants as well as a link into the staff areas of London House on Dingwall Avenue. The group's brown, cream and orange livery was replaced with a scheme of light blue and gold lettering on a dark blue background. Hanson plc is a British based international building materials company, headquartered in London. ... James Edward, Baron Hanson (born in Huddersfield on January 20, 1922 – November 1, 2004) was an English conservative industrialist who built his businesses through the process of leveraged buyouts through Hanson plc. ... Basildon (IPA, ) is a New Town located in south Essex, England at . It was designated as a New Town after World War II in 1948 to accommodate the London population overspill. ... Chatham is an English town that developed around an important naval dockyard on the east bank of the River Medway to the east of London in the county of Kent. ... This article is about a tax measure. ...

In 1989, a management buyout saw the international arm spun off as a separate company. There was continued upheaval in Croydon with the complete refurbishment of the Whitgift Centre and of parts of Allders flagship store. The vast carpet department was contracted to a secondary location allowing for the creation of a new perfumery and cosmetics hall at the centre of the Ground Floor. A new Allders department store of 137,000 square feet opened at Woking in 1992. Allders plc was floated on the stock market in 1993. A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition where a companys existing managers acquire a large part or all of the company. ... , See Woking (borough) for the administrative district. ...

The growth of the group rapidly accelerated following stock market flotation with the acquisition of existing stores and the building of new ones. This began with the acquisition of Nottingham department store 'Farmers' (renamed Allders) and the development of a chain of stand-alone home furnishing stores. The opening of a second Clover store at Rotherham was succeeded by the development of 'Allders At Home', a concept for new stores opened in out-of-town retail parks- the first of which opened at Aylesford in Kent in 1994. The Clover stores were both rebranded under this fascia. For other uses, see Nottingham (disambiguation). ... There is also a Rotherham, New Zealand , Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. ... Aylesford is a large village on the River Medway in Kent, 4 miles NW of Maidstone in England. ... For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ...

In September 1996 Allders purchased a number of department stores from the Owen Owen group that previously traded under the Lewis's and Owen Owen names. This included branches in Basingstoke, Coventry, Ilford, Leeds, Oxford, Redditch and Slough. In 1997 Allders acquired the bankrupt Maples furniture brand and seven of its retail outlets. These stores were integrated into the Allders At Home portfolio and brought the brand to town centre locations in Bromley, Chelmsford, Crawley, Kingston upon Thames, Reading, Sutton Coldfield and Watford. The Bromley outlet, placed in direct competition with the town's main Allders department store, was soon disposed of. Owen Owen is an operator of department stores in the United Kingdom. ... Lewiss was a department store group operating in the United Kingdom from 1856 to the 1990s. ... Basingstoke railway station, as seen from Alençon Link. ... For other uses, see Coventry (disambiguation). ... Ilford is a district of the London Borough of Redbridge in east London, England. ... For other uses, see Leeds (disambiguation). ... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ... Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England. ... Slough (pronounced ) is a town and unitary authority (Borough of Slough) in England. ... Bromley is the principal town in the London Borough of Bromley, England. ... For other uses, see Chelmsford (disambiguation). ... Crawley is a town and local government district in West Sussex, England. ... Kingston upon Thames, part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is an ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned, and is now a lively suburb of London. ... , Reading is a town, unitary authority (the Borough of Reading) and urban area in the English county of Berkshire. ... , Holy Trinity Church on Trinity Hill north of Sutton town centre. ... Watford is a town and district in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, situated 34 km (21 miles) northwest of London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. ...

Shares in Allders crashed in 1998 after disappointing sales and difficulties integrating the Maples furniture group. Nevertheless it continued a policy of expansion, acquiring the premises of the former C & A stores at Guildford, Kingston upon Thames, Leicester and York in 2000 and later the large C & A building on the south side of Oxford Street in London. Problems continued however. In Croydon, there were plans to build a new shopping centre, Park Place, on the store's current site and much of the area to the south. A new Allders would be built opposite Croydon's Town Hall. Croydon Council's partner in this plan was developer Minerva plc. In late 2002, Minerva was part of a new group called Scarlett Retail that bid for Allders, with Lehman Brothers investment bank and a management team including Terry Green, the former chief executive of Debenhams and BHS. There had also been rumours of a merger with House of Fraser or a combined bid from Allders shareholder Tom Hunter. C&A is a chain of clothes stores, with its head office in Brussels. ... , For other places with the same name, see Guildford (disambiguation). ... Kingston upon Thames, part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is an ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned, and is now a lively suburb of London. ... Leicester city centre, looking towards the Clock Tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city and unitary authority in the English East Midlands. ... York shown within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state Constituent country Region Yorkshire and the Humber Ceremonial county North Yorkshire Admin HQ York City Centre Founded 71 City Status 71 Government  - Type Unitary Authority, City  - Governing body City of York Council  - Leadership: Leader & Executive  - Executive: Liberal Democrat  - MPs: Hugh Bayley (L) John... Oxford Street, with Centre Point in the background Oxford Street in 1875, looking west from the junction with Duke Street. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Park Place is a proposed shopping centre in Croydon, England. ... Minerva plc is a British developer and property firm co-founded by the millionaire philanthropist Sir David Garrard. ... Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ... Debenhams plc (LSE: DEB) is a retailer with a chain of department stores based in the United Kingdom. ... For other uses of the abbreviation, see BHS Bhs (also trading as British Home Stores and formerly BHS and BhS) is a stalwart department store of the British High Street, selling clothing and household items (such as bedlinen, cutlery, crockery and lighting). ... House of Fraser is a British department store group with 61 stores (July 2007) across the country. ... Sir Thomas Tom Blane Hunter is a Scottish entrepreneur and philanthropist. ...

Some felt at the time that Scarlett's bid was based on Minerva's intention to acquire Allders' top site in Croydon for its Park Place project, in order to then sell the plot on to another retailer, probably John Lewis. The bid was felt by many to be overpriced. Nevertheless, Scarlett paid Tom Hunter an improved price and they landed the company in early 2003 for about £162m ($316m). Green became chief executive and set about an overhaul of Allders' image. Much of the traditional homeware, haberdashery and clothing for middle-aged, middle-income women was reduced, with a new emphasis on young fashion and beauty products.

Administration

In September 2004, Minerva announced that Allders had made a loss of £22.6m for the year to 30 June 2004 [2], blaming the speed of the transformation of the business. In December, it announced the business was up for sale. There was some early interest that Primark was to purchase some of the stores [3] however, no interest was found in taking on the company as a whole and it was placed in administration on 26 January 2005. It was revealed that there was a pensions deficit of £15 million. 130 of the staff at the Croydon headquarters were laid off, including Green and other senior managers. An under construction Allders store being developed as part of the Drake Circus shopping centre in Plymouth was never opened and had since been split into stores for Next and Primark when the centre opened in October 2005. is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Penneys redirects here. ... is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Drake Circus is a shopping centre in the city centre of Plymouth, England. ... This article is about the city of Plymouth in England. ... Next on Oxford Street Next plc is a British clothes retailer, with its headquarters in Enderby, Leicester, England. ...

Kroll, the administrators, once again searched for buyers for the chain or individual stores. Of Allders' 45 stores, only 35 received offers, with rival retailers such as House of Fraser, Bhs, Debenhams and Primark said to have expressed an interest. The ten remaining stores, including the Oxford Street branch, began closing-down sales on 5 February and had started to close from March 2005 and all had closed down by May 2005 with the Leeds store being the last to close down on 22 May 2005 (with exception of the Croydon store). [4] ... House of Fraser is a British department store group with 61 stores (July 2007) across the country. ... For other uses of the abbreviation, see BHS Bhs (also trading as British Home Stores and formerly BHS and BhS) is a stalwart department store of the British High Street, selling clothing and household items (such as bedlinen, cutlery, crockery and lighting). ... Debenhams plc (LSE: DEB) is a retailer with a chain of department stores based in the United Kingdom. ... Penneys redirects here. ... is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 142nd day of the year (143rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Renewal

In May 2005, it was announced that the owners of Jaeger would take on the flagship Croydon store and that it would continue to trade as Allders. In the first year of operation the new Managing Director Andrew MacKenzie has turned the fortunes of the company around and has projected a £1Million gross profit for the first year. Significant investment has been made to attract back to the store its Croydon audience. It is now the only Allders still in existence. Jaeger is a womens clothing retailer operating in the United Kingdom. ...

Development threat

In April 2006, it was announced that Allders had secured an extension to their lease through to 2008 as reported in the Croydon Guardian: Allders safe for two years safeguarding the jobs of almost 1,000 employees.

The land and store that Allders lease has regular break clauses to the benefit of the 'virtual freehold leaseholder' held by Minerva subsidiary companies for 250 years. The freehold interest is held by the Croydon Whitgift Foundation, following a deal in the lead up to the Compulsory Purchase Order with Minerva to ensure their long term financial interests (they were founded in the late 16th Century).

The current development agreement between Minerva and Croydon Council was amended at the time that Allders went into administration to a single phase development that includes demolition of the current Allders store and a 5 year wait until the new development is completed. This would be untenable for Allders. The development agreement between Croydon Council and Minerva is based on a two phase development enabling Allders to stay on site until their new store was completed and fitted out. The new Conservative administration (elected May 2006) of Croydon Council is intent on securing John Lewis as the anchor tennant. This however does not fit in with the development as granted because John Lewis do not require a department store of the size that has to be built by Minerva.

Two options therefore exist for Minerva 1) they put a new planning application in for a smaller development with a store suitable for John Lewis 2) they negotiate with Allders of Croydon to anchor the new development as originally envisaged. It is thought that Minerva are particularly worried about scenario 1) since their share price is based on the large development already granted with planning permission - any new application would also take at least a year to work through the system and so delay the development significantly. Croydon Council have stated publicly that they are not in discussions with Minerva on a new planning application

Minerva has a development agreement of its own with Lend Lease to develop the project subject to securing an anchor department store.

The overall viability of the Minerva plans (1.08 Million Sq.Ft Shopping Centre) have been thrown into doubt following the building of the 1.615 Million Sq.Ft Westfield London shopping centre development in west London (white city) due to open late next year (2008) and the existing 1.6 Million Sq.Ft shopping development at Bluewater to the east of London. Westfield London may also refer to Westfield College, London Westfield London will be a large shopping centre in Shepherds Bush, London, England. ... , Bluewater interior This article is about a shopping mall. ...

References

• Memories of Croydon (1999), various authors, ISBN 1-900463-19-9.

External links

• Official website