Bhs is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
department storeA department store is a retail establishment which specializes in satisfying a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
chain with branches mainly located in high street locations, primarily selling clothing and household items such as bedlinen,
cutleryCutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the...
, crockery and
lightingLighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some aesthetic or practical effect. Lighting includes use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and natural illumination of interiors from daylight. Daylighting is often used as the main source of light during...
. The company, which was originally known as British Home Stores, competes on quality and value, aiming at a less affluent demographic than Marks and Spencer or
John LewisThe John Lewis Partnership is a major United Kingdom worker co-operative retailer which operates John Lewis department stores, Waitrose supermarkets and the direct services company Greenbee...
. The company has 186 stores throughout the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. The Company has been a constituent of the
FTSE 100 IndexThe FTSE 100 Index — also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "footsie" — is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange...
but is now owned by
Sir Philip GreenSir Philip Green is a British billionaire businessman who owns some of the United Kingdom's largest retailers, including the Arcadia Group. He is Britain's ninth richest person with assets worth around £4.43bn in 2008...
.
The early years
The first British Home Stores shop opened in
BrixtonBrixton is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is predominantly residential with a prominent street market and substantial retail sector...
in 1928 and copied the business model of the UK arm of US-based FW Woolworth in that the price of goods was limited to a maximum of one shilling. In 1929 the maximum price was increased to five shillings which enabled the company to expand the range to include furnishings and drapery. The company became a
public companyA publicly-traded company is a company that has permission to offer its registered securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or occasionally a company whose stock is traded over the counter via market makers who use non-exchange quotation services.-Securities...
(Plc) in 1931.
After the Second World War the company stopped selling based on price and started to offer goods with
quality and value for money.
The 1970s & 1980s
The company expanded in the 1970s and 1980s including the opening of stores in the newly-developing wave of indoor shopping malls (such as
The Mall BexleyheathThe Mall Bexleyheath is the principal covered shopping centre in the town centre of Bexleyheath and is the largest single covered shopping facility in the London Borough of Bexley...
and
Lakeside Shopping CentreThe Lakeside Shopping Centre is a large out-of-town shopping centre located in West Thurrock, in the borough of Thurrock, Essex just beyond the eastern boundary of Greater London. It opened on 25 October 1990....
). 1977 saw the firm launch a joint venture with supermarket retailer Sainsbury's to create hypermarkets using the SavaCentre brand. Sainsbury's took whole control of SavaCentre in 1989 and has more recently converted the stores to the Sainsbury's branding.
A downturn in business in the early 1980s was fought with a revamp of the stores and the selling of goods with higher profit margins. The company closed its only overseas store, in
DublinDublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool". It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the...
,
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
, during this time. In 1985 the first overseas
franchiseFranchising is the practice of using another person's business model. The franchisor grants the independent operator the right to distribute its products, techniques, and trademarks for a percentage of gross monthly sales and a royalty fee...
store opened in
GibraltarGibraltar is a self-governing British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula and Europe at the entrance of the Mediterranean overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. The territory covers and shares a land border with Spain to the north...
. Such stores, not directly owned by the Bhs company itself, now operate over
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. In 1986, Bhs merged with
HabitatHabitat is a retailer of household furnishings in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and has franchised outlets in other countries. Founded in 1964 by Terence Conran, it is now part of the IKANO Group...
and
MothercareMothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
to form
Storehouse plcStorehouse plc was a large UK retail business formed by Terence Conran through the merger of various high street chains. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index before it was renamed Mothercare in 2000....
and soon afterwards, the
British Home Stores registered company name and branding across its shops was replaced with 'BhS' (now
Bhs) and a new
corporate logoA logo is a graphical element that, together with its logotype form a trademark or commercial brand. Typically, a logo's design is for immediate recognition...
. The exception was in stores that displayed a 'historic' fascia, such as Edinburgh's Princes Street, which continued to feature the British Home Stores name in its original Roman type etched into the granite shop front.
The 1990s: Takeover by Philip Green
In the mid-1990s the brand saw a further re-invention under guidance from retail design house '20:20'. The new look was showcased with the launch of the 'millennium concept' shopfit initially at the
Grafton CentreThe Grafton Centre is a covered shopping centre in Cambridge, England. It is one of the three main shopping centres in Cambridge – the others are the Lion Yard and the Grand Arcade, the newest and largest of the three...
, Cambridge (now simply called the Grafton) during 1995. With its softer
Bhs 'signature' logo and warm interior lighting the concept attempted with varying degrees of success to meet the needs of the modern, more sophisticated (female) shopper. During the late 1990s the stores which formed Storehouse Plc fell on hard times, Bhs and Mothercare being the worst affected. Following a number of years tough trading Sir
Philip GreenSir Philip Green is a British billionaire businessman who owns some of the United Kingdom's largest retailers, including the Arcadia Group. He is Britain's ninth richest person with assets worth around £4.43bn in 2008...
bought Bhs from Storehouse Plc in May 2000 for £200 million. He then changed the company from public (Plc) to private (Ltd). In 2002 Green then went on to acquire the
Arcadia GroupThe Arcadia Group Limited is a British retail company that owns the high street clothing retailers Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, and Wallis, and the out of town chain Outfit, which sells lines from the other group chains...
of high street retailers; which includes
TopshopTopshop is a British chain of clothing stores that operates in more than 20 countries. It is part of the Arcadia Group, which also owns a number of other well-known retail outlets including Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge and Wallis....
,
BurtonBurton is a large United Kingdom high street clothing retailer. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but is now part of the Arcadia Group.-History:...
,
EvansEvans, , is a women's clothing retailer located in the United Kingdom and Ireland.- History :In 1971 it was purchased by the Burton group, now known as Arcadia Group who own Burton and Dorothy Perkins.- Store Style :...
,
Dorothy PerkinsDorothy Perkins, whose trading name was inspired by a rambler rose of the same name, is a large British women's clothing retailer, active mostly in the United Kingdom.- History :...
and Wallis among others, to form Britain's second largest clothes retailer, after Marks and Spencer. Alan Smith, chairman of Storehouse at the time of the Bhs sale commented "He [Philip Green] had a crystal-clear vision and strategy. He had the guts to do the deal, to make it work when nobody else thought he could."
The 2000s: Tammy & Return to British Home Stores
In May 2005, Philip Green, owner of Bhs, purchased
Etam UKEtam UK was a British women's clothing retailer formed by the French firm Etam Developpement.The Etam brand was used for ladieswear retail, and the chain also operated a subsidiary, Tammy which focused on clothing for girls, particularly in their late childhood and early teens...
from its French owner, Etam Development. The Etam UK brands included "Etam", "Amelie May", and "Tammy". The girls' fashion retailer Tammy was the strongest brand in terms of sales and consumer recognition. For this reason, and to help improve girls' perception of Bhs as a whole, from early September 2005 stand-alone stores were closed and the brand integrated into Bhs stores.
In 2005, Bhs resurrected its 'British Home Stores' fascia more than 20 years after it had disappeared from the UK high street. The move followed the purchase of several former
AlldersAllders is an independent department store in Croydon, established by Joshua Allder in 1862. It is the fourth-largest department store in the United Kingdom.The Croydon store was the flagship of a large chain of department stores in the UK...
at Home sites from the defunct
department storeA department store is a retail establishment which specializes in satisfying a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
chain. Except for the Broughton Park site in Chester, these projects were designed purely to build upon the success of the homewares & lighting that Bhs stores currently offered and to tap into new areas of business such as furniture, curtains, rugs, and wall art. Brands sold included Denby, Maxwell Williams, Typhoon, Brabantia, Terence Conran and Jasper Conran.
Chichester was the first of the
AlldersAllders is an independent department store in Croydon, established by Joshua Allder in 1862. It is the fourth-largest department store in the United Kingdom.The Croydon store was the flagship of a large chain of department stores in the UK...
sites to be refurbished, and by 2006 the success of the 'Homestores' rollout was extended to the larger high street stores. By October 2008 the success of the Homestore format had rolled out to 25 dedicated Homestores, with Thanet being the latest addition, opening in October 2009.
Arcadia Integration
On 27 February 2009, Bhs announced that the company would integrate with sister company Arcadia. Central support functions will merge and selected Bhs stores will now house selected Arcadia brands; for example, in July 2009, Bhs stores in
SolihullSolihull is a large town in the West Midlands of England, with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles southeast of Birmingham city centre...
in the West Midlands and
BexleyheathBexleyheath is a large suburban town in southeast London, situated in the London Borough of Bexley, and located 12 miles east-southeast of Charing Cross. It is situated on the London to Dover section of the Roman road, Watling Street...
in South London both opened Evans and Wallis concessions. In August 2009 Canterbury opened Wallis and Evans concessions within the store. From May 2009 Mike Goring was appointed Managing Director to the chain and in July, Jacquie Gray appointed Creative Director.
Home Shopping
The company launched its home shopping Web site on Wednesday 28 March 2007, with the aim of making all of its products available online. This was achieved in the October.
In Store
Around the same time, some stores evaluated a new layout, with departments changing size. Larger homewares departments started to stock new products that were developed for British Home Stores.
Bhs has several niche departments, such as for weddings and for schoolwear. Each store caters its school uniform offering to the most popular colour combinations used by local schools.
Christmas
During the first week of October each year the full Christmas shop is rolled out nationwide. In most cases this replaces a section of women's fashions until just after Christmas. During this period the Christmas shop offers a wide range of novelty, gift, decoration and food items to consumers in addition to the usual Bhs offering.
Temporary staff are taken on from late September right up until December. Some are retained after in permanent vacancies. Each year a new Christmas soft toy is launched, usually a bear. Some collect these each year, and have done so for over a decade. Christmas 2005 brought about Parker the Bear and Christmas 2006 had Bertie Bear and Toby Terrier. In 2007 Baxter Bear and Dexter Dog made an appearance. 2008 brought Benji Bear and Dylan Dog.
By 5 October 2008 all Bhs stores had launched their Christmas Shop offer and in the flagship store in
Oxford StreetOxford Street is a major thoroughfare in London, England in the City of Westminster. With over 300 shops, it is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as the most dense. The street derives its name from being part of the old London—Oxford Road which began at Newgate, City of London...
the event was marked by the launch of the first Christmas window display on Oxford Street.
Bhs Goldcard and Bhs Everyone Card
The Goldcard was the Bhs combined payment and discount card, administered by
GE Capital BankGE Capital Bank is a brand of GE Consumer Finance, part of the General Electric Company.The brand is used as the name of seven banking divisions and subsidiaries in Austria, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Hungary, Hong Kong, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and...
. The card also functioned as a loyalty discount card. The Bhs was accepted in all Bhs (including Tammy) and
Arcadia GroupThe Arcadia Group Limited is a British retail company that owns the high street clothing retailers Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, and Wallis, and the out of town chain Outfit, which sells lines from the other group chains...
stores. Bhs Everyone card was available in some regions from September 2006 in some regions.In March 2008, the company decided to withdraw these cards. They were replaced with a temporary discount card, the 'Thank-you Card', which has now also been terminated, but was valid until 31 July 2008. The cards were replaced on 23 July 2008 by the BHS Credit Card, and the older cards cancelled on at the end of 2008. Customers must open a BHS Credit Card if they wish to receive the 20% discount on Cardholder Days and promotional vouchers.
The BHS credit card was launched on 23 July 2008. The card is run by
BarclaycardBarclaycard is a global credit provider owned by Barclays plc in the UK. The Barclaycard was the first credit card introduced in the UK, coming into service in 1966. It enjoyed a monopoly until the introduction of the Access card in 1972.Barclaycard later became part of the VISA network. Nowadays,...
alongside
MastercardMasterCard Worldwide is a multinational corporation based in Purchase, New York, United States. Throughout the world, its principal business is to process payments between the banks of merchants and the banks of purchasers that use its "MasterCard" brand debit and credit cards to make purchases....
.
As well as the credit card, all BHS Choice card holders have now been (or will be in the near future) converted into the BHS loyalty card where the customer will get an instant 5% discount off everything in store with every purchase. Card holders will also be invited to 20% off events where they will get 20% off everything in store as well as there additional 5% discount.
Staff Discount
Staff receive a 20% discount on all purchases (20%+25% off food purchases in the Restaurant and Coffee Lounge), and can nominate one other family member to have the same discount.
Locations
Bhs is split up into nine regions. Each region is headed by an RM (Regional Manager), each store then has a store manager, commercial managers, Sales Floor Managers, operational managers, visual managers and lead associates.
Bhs has a number of administration offices across the UK, alongside the company's main head office in
MaryleboneMarylebone is an affluent, inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
; offices are also located at
EustonEuston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...
, London. The company's
distributionDistribution is one of the four elements of marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user....
centre is at
AtherstoneAtherstone is a town in Warwickshire, England. The town is located near the northernmost tip of Warwickshire, close to the border with Staffordshire and Leicestershire and is the administrative headquarters of the borough of North Warwickshire.-History:...
,
WarwickshireWarwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton in the far north of the county. The shape of the administrative area Warwickshire differs considerably from that of the historic county...
and is managed by Exel Logistics. Web-based orders are also dispatched from there by
DHLDHL Express is a division of Deutsche Post DHL providing international express mail services. Originally founded in 1969 to deliver documents between San Francisco and Honolulu, the company expanded its service throughout the world by the late 1970s...
.
In April 2006 Bhs acquired another site next to the Marylebone House office. North West House opened on May 2007 after extensive refurbishment. The new building now houses Homewares & Christmas departments, Marketing, Visual Merchandising, Human Resources, Internal Communications (Central Retail Support) and PR. Clothing divisions remain in Marylebone House.
In May 2009 the Arcadia merger saw changes at the Euston Road office with support functions including Pensions, Loss Prevention, Property, and Design & Construction moving to Arcadia's office Colgrave House, on Berners Street, London. Food Services & International would remain at the Euston Road offices.
Image
Bhs uses several corporate designs. Its policy is to put new branding first to better-performing stores and work down from there. It is currently rolling out a revamped brand image to all its stores, with a clean-cut black and white.
DebenhamsDebenhams plc is a Britishretailer operating under a department store format in the UK and franchise stores in other countries. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.- History :...
and Next already have a simple black and white
corporateA corporation is a legal entity separate from the shareholders and employees. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate...
design, so this seems quite a trend.
Many departments within the stores have recently received complete revamps themselves, creating "shops within shops" in each department.
Perhaps the most notable change is the return of the iconic 'British Home Stores' brand, reintroduced after 20 years and used for those stores selling just homeware. The British Home Stores wording is shown in the
FuturaFutura may refer to:* Futura International Airways* Futura * Futura * Aprilia Futura, a motorcycle* Lincoln Futura, a Ford concept car* Futura a product of Hawkins Cookers Limited* Futura 2000, a graffiti artist...
typeface which both contrasts the curvy script of the Bhs logo and harks back to the its predominant use in signage of the past.
Bhs International
The Bhs brand has been franchised since 1985 to stores around the world and, although they are not directly owned, products and support are supplied by Bhs. The Tammy brand is now available as a separate franchise. In early 2006 a new franchise "Bhs Kids" was launched in the Middle East. Bhs Kids carries a large number of best selling children's lines from Bhs stores.
Bhs was the first high street retailer to open in
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
, in 1995. The £3 million venture was the largest in the international portfolio and was quickly followed by the opening of a second store in St Petersburg. In 1998 stores opened in
UzbekistanUzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union...
and Kazakstan. The Middle East remained the key focus, with stores in
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south...
,
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The greatest distance from north to south is 200 km and from east to west 170 km . The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water." It has a...
and
DubaiDubai is one of the seven emirates and the most populous state of the United Arab Emirates . It is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula. The Dubai Municipality is sometimes called Dubai state to distinguish it from the emirate...
and sites in
OmanOman , officially the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab country in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates on the northwest, Saudi Arabia on the west and Yemen on the southwest....
,
QatarQatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally ', is an Arab emirate in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the larger Arabian Peninsula...
and
Abu DhabiAbu Dhabi is the capital of, and the second largest city in the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western coast...
. By 2000 the chain also had stores in
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
,
TenerifeTenerife, a Spanish island, is the largest of the seven Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. Tenerife has an area of 2034.38 square kilometers, and 886,033 inhabitants, which make it the most populated island of the Canary Islands and Spain. About five million tourists...
,
GibraltarGibraltar is a self-governing British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula and Europe at the entrance of the Mediterranean overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. The territory covers and shares a land border with Spain to the north...
and the Far East.
Bhs For Sale
2006 - No Interest, Tough Climate
Bhs owner
Philip GreenSir Philip Green is a British billionaire businessman who owns some of the United Kingdom's largest retailers, including the Arcadia Group. He is Britain's ninth richest person with assets worth around £4.43bn in 2008...
had been touting Bhs as being for sale late February/early March 2006, but this came to nothing. Rivals such as
AsdaAsda is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, toys and general merchandise. They also have a mobile network, called Asda Mobile....
and
DebenhamsDebenhams plc is a Britishretailer operating under a department store format in the UK and franchise stores in other countries. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.- History :...
were contacted regarding any interest they might have in purchasing the chain. Retail executives say that Green has mooted various combinations including joint ventures or outright sale, but in the current tough market most retail chains don't want to risk taking on more stores.
2007 - Suitor Search Resumes
On May 30, 2007 there were rumours of talks with Icelandic retail investor Baugur regarding a sale of the chain and that Green was hoping to raise around £450m from selling the chain which would then be used towards the continuation of Arcadia's TopShop international roll-out. Analysts said Green was in a dilemma over whether he should sell the chain to rivals of his other Arcadia chains.
External links