William Low (known informally as Willie Low's, latterly marketed as Wm Low) was a chain of supermarkets based in Dundee, in Scotland. As a supermarket it was smaller than most of its competitors and often served small towns. It had shops throughout Scotland (and to a lesser extent elsewhere) before it was bought out. It was taken over by Tesco for £250m in 1994, beating a rival takeover bid from competitor Sainsbury's. Tesco converted 54 of the ex Wm Low stores to their own and in so doing expanded their Scottish network of supermarkets considerably as at the time of the takeover there were only around 16 Tesco stores existing in Scotland. Exterior appearance of typical American supermarket (a Safeway) A supermarket or grocery store is a store that sells a wide variety of food. ... Dundee (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Dèagh) located on the North bank of the river Tay, is a royal burgh and the fourth largest city in Scotland. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots2 Government Constitutional monarchy (as part of the UK)  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP... Tesco PLC is a United Kingdom-based international supermarket chain. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... J Sainsbury plc is the parent company of Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd, commonly known as Sainsburys, which is a chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. ... Tesco PLC is a United Kingdom-based international supermarket chain. ... Tesco PLC is a United Kingdom-based international supermarket chain. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots2 Government Constitutional monarchy (as part of the UK)  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP...

The company had previously sold the majority of its stores in England to the UK-based Safeway plc (which was in turn taken over by Morrisons in 2004). Safeway was a chain of 479 supermarkets and convenience stores in the UK that is now part of Wm Morrison Supermarkets. ... Morrisons store in Morecambe, Lancashire. ...

At one stage, the company also ran a chain of freezer centres (i.e. frozen foods specialists) known as Lowfreeze. A freezer centre is the name given to a shop specialising in the sale of frozen food. ...

Typhoid outbreak

In 1964, Wiliam Low was met with disaster in its Aberdeen branch. On the 6th and 7th of May the Aberdeen branch opened a tin of Argentinian Corned beef that had not been processed properly and was infected with Typhoid. Due to the fact that the meat was sliced using a communal deli slicer, approximately 500 people were diagnosed in Aberdeen in 1964 with suspected typhoid. William Low never was successful in the city again.

External links

• History Scotland article by Lesley Diack and David Smith; discusses the Aberdeen Typhoid Outbreak of 1964, more about the case and William Low's involvement