Watsons

Watsons Personal Care Stores
Subsidiary of A.S. Watson Group
Industry Pharmacy
Health care
Beauty care
Founded 1828
Headquarters Hong Kong
Area served
 Hong Kong
China
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Philippines
Japan
South Korea
Singapore
Malaysia
Ukraine
Latvia
Lithuania
Indonesia
Key people
 Li Ka-shing
Canning Fok
Parent A.S. Watson Group
Website Watsons Personal Care Stores (Hong Kong)
Watsons
Chinese name
Chinese 屈臣氏
Japanese name
Kana ワトソンズ
Korean name
Hangul 왓슨스
Watsons Old logo (2004-2012)

Watsons Personal Care Stores (traditional Chinese: 屈臣氏個人護理店; simplified Chinese: 屈臣氏个人护理店; pinyin: Qūchénshì Gèrén Hùlǐ Diàn; Jyutping: Wat1san4si6go3jan4wu6lei5dim3), known simply as Watsons (屈臣氏), is the largest health care and beauty care chain store in Asia. It is a member of the A.S. Watson Group, majority-owned by CK Hutchison Holdings. It operates over 700 stores in Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia.[1][2][3]

History

A.S. Watson advertisement, 1923

Dr. Thomas Boswell Watson (1815–1860), from Scotland, was the first member of the Watson family to arrive in the Far East, where in 1845 he set up a private practice in Macau, on the south west coast of China.[4] After selling his practice to a fellow doctor, he moved to Hong Kong in 1856 where he became part owner of the Hong Kong Dispensary, an offshoot of the Canton Dispensary which operated from 1828–1858. Known as the "Big Medicine Shop" (Chinese: 大藥房; Cantonese: Dai Yeuk Fong), the dispensary's main customers were soldiers and sailors. The dispensary was not known as A.S. Watson until 1870 although Alexander Skirving Watson took over in 1858 following management changes.[4] T.B. Watson sent his family back to Scotland in 1857 and he himself followed two years later.

Following the death of Dr T. B. Watson in 1860, the Hong Kong Dispensary was leased to A.S. Watson and two other doctors, and from 1862 onwards, the name A.S. Watson featured prominently at the Hong Kong Dispensary. In 1871, the Watson family leased the company to Dr John David Humphreys and Dr Arthur Hunt, and thereafter trading was executed under the name A.S. Watson & Company. Retail outlets were known as "Watsons the Chemist".

The current owners, Hutchison Group, acquired a controlling interest in A.S. Watson & Co., Ltd in 1963. In 1981, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. At this time, the group had 75 retail outlets.

References

  1. ↑ About Watsons Personal Care Stores
  2. ↑ AS Watson
  3. ↑ Li Ka-shing sells nearly 25pc of AS Watson to Singapore investment giant Temasek, SCMP, 22 March 2014
  4. 1 2 Waters, Dan (1990). "Hongs Kong's Hongs with Long Histories and British Connections" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. 30: 219–256. ISSN 1991-7295. p. 221
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