The last counter service branch closed inPeckham in The first SavaCentre store was opened inWashington, Tyne and Wear, in ; nearly half the space, amounting to some 35, sq ft 3, m 2 , was devoted to textiles, electrical goods and hardware. This is in direct contrast to rival firms Tesco and Asda, which have been rapidly expanding their Tesco Extra and Asda Wal-Mart Supercentre hypermarket formats in recent years.
The plan was to open a DIY store with a supermarket-style layout. Homebase was tripled in size in with the acquisition of the rival Texas Homecare from the Ladbroke Group plc. There was, however, diversification outside the UK. The success of the Merry Hill store, combined with the onset of the recession resulted in a fall in trade at the nearby store in Halesowen, which closed in Between December and December the company opened seven stores.
Two others at Sprucefield, Lisburn and Holywood Exchange, Belfast would not open until due to protracted legal challenges. At the end of it announced price cuts on of its most popular own-label lines. Significantly, this came three months after Tesco had launched its Tesco Value line. These were small supermarkets which enabled large villages to get their weekly shopping without travelling to large out of town stores. Potential sites were identified and finally stores were opened in Attleborough and Chipping Ongar Essex towards the end of In the company reported its first fall in profits for 22 years.
David Sainsbury announced management changes, involving the appointment of two chief executives, one in charge of UK supermarkets Dino Adriano and the other responsible for Homebase and the US David Bremner. Finally, in , David Sainsbury himself resigned from the company to pursue a career in politics.
He was succeeded as non-executive chairman by George Bull, who had been chairman of Diageo,and Adriano was promoted to be Group Chief Executive. While the Interstate font was used almost exclusively for many years, the company introduced another informal font in which is used in a wide range of advertising and literature.
However poor profitability led to the sale of this share in David Bremner became head of the UK supermarkets. FB house promo. Sign Up for News Updates. Sign up. Not convinced? By the mids, that empire encompassed over 1, retail locations, including the namesake chain of over supermarkets; a controlling stake in the Homebase chain of 76 do-it-yourself retail centers; ten Savacentre hypermarket stores; and Shaw's Supermarkets, a chain of 87 supermarkets in the northeast United States.
Late in , Sainsbury's increased its overseas presence with the purchase of a 50 percent stake in Washington, D. Sainsbury's is not only Britain's largest retailer of food and wine but also its most respected, according to nationwide surveys of industry analysts and company directors. The company has earned top or near-top ratings for product and service quality, successful development, profitable pricing, overall financial performance, advertising and marketing, and superior management, as well as recruitment, training, and retention of high-caliber employees.
More than one-third of Sainsbury's employees own shares in the company. Sainsbury's was off to a romantic but practical start in when two young employees of neighboring London shops met, married, and started a small dairy store in their three-story Drury Lane home.
Mary Ann Staples, 19, had grown up in her father's dairy business. John James Sainsbury, 25, had worked for a hardware merchant and grocer. Their shop was a success from the start, as both John and Mary Ann had the business knowledge and capacity for hard work that it took to win the loyalty of the local trade. Their passion for order, cleanliness, and high-quality merchandise made the shop an inviting place, in contrast to the prevalent clutter of many tiny family-owned shops and the insanitary conditions of the street vendors' stalls and carts.
Seven years later the Sainsburys opened a second shop in a newly developed section of town and moved into the upper portion of the building. Within a few years, they had opened several similar branches, planning to have a shop for each of their sons to manage when he grew up. By the time their six sons were adults, the branches far outnumbered them. Yet caution has always been characteristic of Sainsbury expansion; they regularly passed up opportunities to buy groups or chains of stores, preferring to develop each new store independently.
The passion for high quality led them to a turning point in , when they opened a branch in Croydon. They used advanced design and materials that had an elegance not attempted in the other shops and made the store easy to keep clean. The walls, floor, and counter fronts were tiled, the countertops were marble slabs.
Customers were seated on bentwood chairs. The store's cleanliness--still a rarity in food shops of that time--and elaborate decor helped attract more prosperous customers; it was an instant success. Several similar shops were added during that decade, while Sainsbury's also developed a less elaborate design for suburban branches opened during those years. In these, business could be done through open windows, as in the common market areas, but the design also attracted customers to come into the store to see a greater variety of food.
In , Sainsbury's moved its headquarters to Blackfriars, where it remained throughout the 20th century. The location provided easy access to wholesale markets and transportation. To obtain the best quality in food, Sainsbury's always kept in close touch with suppliers, and it controlled and distributed stock from a central depot until the s.
By the turn of the century sons John Benjamin, George, and Arthur were working in the family business; they and other company employees were trained with equal care and attention to detail. Alfred and Paul went through the same training when they joined the company in and respectively. Frank, the third son, took up poultry and pork farming in and became a major supplier.
During this time, in terms of numbers, rivals seemed to be outdistancing Sainsbury's. Lipton's, the largest, had stores. It took Sainsbury's another 14 years to open its th branch. But Sainsbury's continued to place the highest priority on quality, taking the time to weigh each decision, whether it meant researching suppliers for a new product, assessing the reliability of a new supplier, or measuring the business potential of a new site.
Offering delicious, great quality food at competitive prices has been at the heart of what we do since John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury opened our first store in We opened the first self-service store in Croydon which revolutionsied the way we shop, with customers browsing aisles and picking their own products. With stores all over the nation, each one has its own unique history. About us. Home About us. About us Driven by our passion for food, together we serve and help every customer.
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