Owen Owen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Owen Owen is an operator of department stores in the United Kingdom. The group currently comprises four stores, the largest of which is Lewis's in Liverpool, England.

Owen Owen was founded by Owen Owen in Liverpool, where he opened a drapery store on London Road. Over the years the store expanded, but the retail scene had moved away from the London Road area so the Owen family lent Owen Owen Ltd the money to move to a better position on Clayton Square. Owen Owen then purchased rival chain TJ Hughes and that firm's Liverpool store moved into the empty London Road store, where it remains today,

Owen Owen then expanded by building a store in Coventry, which was bombed during World War II. After the war it continued to expand, purchasing G W Robinsons of Canada and added other stores to the UK portfolio.

In the 1980's the Owen family sold out of the business. TJ Hughes was split off and G W Robinsons sold off.

In the early 1990's the firm purchased several Lewis's stores, before being taken over by Philip Green. The company was then stripped of its assets and was cut from 12 stores to one, Lewis's of Liverpool.

Then in early 2005 Philip Green sold his stake in the business to David Thompson who began Owen Owen's expansion. Owen Owen bought Joplings and Robbs of Hexham from the now defunct Merchant Retail Group Plc and purchased Esslemont and Macintosh from the Esslemont family. All the company's stores have strong brand names.

The Owen Owen brand name is no longer used, but Owen Owen is the name of the operating company.

The group is currently looking at other department stores with strong local names.

Contents

[edit] Department stores

[edit] Former locations

[edit] Bibliography

  • David Wyn Davies: Owen Owen: Victorian Draper (Gwasg Cambria, Aberystwyth, 1983) ISBN 0-900439-16-5

[edit] External links

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