Owen Owen
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Wed 28/02/07 As of 10 o'clock this morning Owen Owen ltd is now in Administration
The affairs, business and property of the company are being managed by the joint Administrators, P.F. Duffy (ICAEW) and D.J. Whitehouse (IPA). The Joint Administrators act as agents of the Company and contract without personal liabilty.
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 GW Robinsons of Canada and added other stores to the UK portfolio.
In the 1980s the Owen family sold out of the business. TJ Hughes was split off and GW Robinsons sold off.
In the early 1990s 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 twelve 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.
On February 28th 2007 Owen Owen group entered administration.
Contents |
[edit] Department stores
[edit] Former locations
- Basingstoke, Owen Owen Basingstoke (sold to Allders)
- Bath, Owen Owen Bath (building split into smaller retail units)
- Birkenhead, Owen Owen Birkenhead (sold to T J Hughes)
- Blackpool, Owen Owen Blackpool (sold to T J Hughes)
- Chester, Owen Owen Chester (split into smaller units)
- Coventry, Owen Owen Coventry (sold to Allders)
- Crawley, Owen Owen Crawley (sold to Debenhams)
- Finchley, Owen Owen Finchley / Priors (building now occupied by Argos)
- Hanley, Lewis's Hanley (sold to Debenhams)
- Ilford, Owen Owen Ilford (sold to Allders)
- Kidderminster, Owen Owen Kidderminster (sold to T J Hughes)
- Leeds, Lewis's Leeds (sold to Allders)
- Liverpool, Owen Owen (sold to Tesco and now occupied by TK Maxx and Tesco)
- Manchester, Lewis's Manchester (sold to Primark)
- Newport, Owen Owen Newport
- Oxford, Lewis's Oxford (sold to Allders)
- Preston, Owen Owen Preston (building now occupied by Bhs, George of ASDA and JJB Sports)
- Redditch, Owen Owen Redditch (sold to Allders)
- Richmond, Owen Owen Richmond / Wright Brothers
- Shrewsbury, Owen Owen Shrewsbury / Maddoxs
- Slough, Owen Owen Slough (sold to Allders)
- Southampton, Owen Owen Southampton / E Mayes & Son
- Southport, Broadbents (merged with Boothroyds)
- Southport, Broadbents & Boothroyds / Boothroyds (sold to J E Beale)
- Stourbridge, Owen Owen Stourbridge
- Uxbridge, Owen Owen Uxbridge
- Weston-super-Mare, Owen Owen Weston-Super-Mare
- Wolverhampton, Owen Owen Wolverhampton (sold to T J Hughes)
[edit] Bibliography
- David Wyn Davies: Owen Owen: Victorian Draper (Gwasg Cambria, Aberystwyth, 1983) ISBN 0-900439-16-5
