William Low

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William Low (known informally as Willie Low's,^{[citation needed]} 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. However it still had several large stores, including 2 substantial shops in Dundee at the time of its demise - all of which were bought by Tesco. Most towns near Dundee had at least one large William Low store. It had shops throughout Scotland and North East England before it was bought out. It was ultimately taken over by Tesco for £257m in 1994; they had launched the first takeover bid but then had to compete with a rival takeover bid from competitor Sainsbury's. Tesco converted 57 of the 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 17 Tesco stores in Scotland).

At one stage, the company also ran a chain of freezer centres (i.e. frozen foods specialists) known as Lowfreeze.^[1]

Contents 1 1993/94 Expansion 2 History of the takeover 2.1 Competing bids 2.2 Financial performance: Before and after 2.3 Conversion to Tesco-formatted stores 2.4 Remaining stores 2.5 Redundant stores 2.6 Distribution Centres 3 Store portfolio 3.1 Scotland 3.2 England 4 Typhoid outbreak 5 References and footnotes 6 External links

[edit] 1993/94 Expansion

It was Wm Low's aim to achieve a total of 61 Stores and 959,000 sq feet of sales area by the end of the 1994 financial year.^[2]

Expansion into the north of England was a priority, with the £12 million, 30,000 sq ft Loughborough store opening in 1993. Amid huge publicity for price cuts on over 500 items, customers took their sleeping bags to await the opening of the store and claim their hamper, champagne and flowers. This was the company's first foray into direct competition with Sainsbury.

[edit] History of the takeover

[edit] Competing bids

The takeover battle for William Low started on 14 July 1994, when Tesco announced its formal bid of £156 million for the company to dramatically improve its Scottish portfolio. J Sainsbury launched a counter bid of £210 million. Sainsbury was keen to gain a stronger foothold in Scotland, having only 3 stores in Scotland at the time of the bid.^[3] Tesco reacted with an improved offer of £247 million and Sainsbury's withdrew from the battle.^[3] Tesco formally took over Wm Low on 2 August 1994 for a total sum of £257 million. Analysis at the time suggested that the Sainsbury bid was possibly a spoiler tactic as opposed to a serious takeover attempt.^[4]

The company had been independent for 126 years, having being founded in 1868. The purchase of Wm Low doubled Tesco's Scottish market share from 7.6% to 15.3% in 1995.^[5]

[edit] Financial performance: Before and after

James Millar, chairman of Wm Low at the time of the takeover, said that the company was "Not doing badly but could not compete with the big names".^{[citation needed]} Prior to the take over, sales had been falling at a rate of 6%, a figure that Tesco reversed to a growth of 20% by February 1996 and the former Wm Low stores contributed £11 million profit to the Tesco group.^[6]

Tesco quotes pre-tax profits prior to the takeover as being £17m in 1993 and £15m in 1994.^[6] The Scottish Business Insider quotes similar yearly figures:^[7]

• 1991: £354 million turnover, £21 million profit
• 1992: £394 million turnover, £23 million profit
• 1993: £253 million turnover, £20 million profit
• 1994: £446 million turnover, £21 million profit

Staff numbers prior to the takeover had been reasonably static, from 8799 employees in 1991 to 8981 in 1994.^[7]

[edit] Conversion to Tesco-formatted stores

A re-fit programme followed and Tesco scanning tills were installed at every store by August 1995, with the refit being completed by the end of 1996 at a cost of £35 million.^[6] Although the vast majority of old Wm Low stores have now been replaced with all-new Tesco stores, as of December 2006 some branches retaining some of the basic old Wm Low format still exist (e.g Shelving, Open Grid false Ceilings, Blue / Pink Tiling in Toilets). However, most have undergone a couple of internal refits since the takeover. Externally, they are, in some cases, still adorned with awkward-looking square Tesco signs (i.e those which had been designed to replace the square Wm Low signage, but using the existing fixings and mounting points). Keith, Banff and Dundee Lochee are probably the best examples of what remains of the Wm Low formats in Scotland to this day.

[edit] Remaining stores

Most of the remaining Wm Low stores have been converted to the Tesco "Metro" format, in line with their smaller size. Such stores can be found in Campbeltown, Monifieth, Inverness, Fort William, Helensburgh and Keith to name but a few.

[edit] Redundant stores

Some of the now redundant sites have gone on to find new owners after Tesco relocated in nearby areas. The former Wm Low Dingwall has now become a Lidl, Wm Low Blairgowrie became M & Co whilst Wm Low Elgin became TK Maxx. Wm Low Forres remains empty to this day.

[edit] Distribution Centres

The Wm Low warehouse in Gateshead was closed in March 1995.^[6] The head office and Distribution Centre at the Dryburgh Estate in Dundee became the Tesco Customer Service Centre and one of two Scottish Distribution Depots for Tesco.

Wm Low Dryburgh Distribution Centre was built in the mid 1970's by Wm Low with an expected 25 years life span. In 2006, Tesco announced the closure of the Dundee and Livingston depots to create a brand new centre in Livingston in 2007. The customer service centre is unaffected by the closure. Residents of Dundee have reacted furiously to the news of the depot closure.

[edit] Store portfolio

The following is a list of Wm Low stores in existence immediately prior to the takeover by Tesco.^[8]

[edit] Scotland

Banff, Bathgate, Blairgowrie, Bo'ness, Campbeltown, Carnoustie, Coatbridge, Craigmarloch, Cumbernauld, Dalgety Bay, Dalkeith, Dingwall, Dumfries, Dunbar, Dundee x 2, Edinburgh x 2, Elgin, Forfar, Forres, Fort William, Grangemouth, Greenock, Haddington, Helensburgh, Inverness, Inverurie, Keith, Kilmarnock, Kirkcaldy, Kirkintilloch, Kirriemuir, Lanark, Linlithgow, Milngavie, Monifieth, Montrose, Oban, Perth x 2, Rosyth, St Andrews, Wishaw

In 1999, Tesco agreed to swap the Carnoustie, Dunbar and Kirriemuir stores with Lothian Borders & Angus Co-operative Society to gain a larger superstore in Galasheils.^[9]

[edit] England

Consett, Driffield, Gateshead (Rowlands Gill), Goole, Ilkeston, Jesmond, Loughborough, Northallerton, Sleaford, Thirsk, Whitehaven, Workington.

[edit] Typhoid outbreak

On the 6th and 7th of May 1964, the Aberdeen branch delicatessen used a tin of Argentinian Corned beef that had not been processed properly (and was infected with Typhoid).^[10] 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 was never successful in the city again with their store closing in the city only 3 years later.

[edit] References and footnotes

[edit] 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