ハウス・オブ・フレーザー

黎明期

1849年、ヒュー・フレーザーとジェームズ・アーサーはアーガイル・ストリートとブキャナン・ストリートの角にArthur and Fraserの店名で小さな服地店を創業した。店はフレーザーの家のようだった。
ヒュー・フレーザーはグラスゴーの服地商店Stewart & McDonald Ltd.で研鑽を積み、経営者の地位まで上り詰め、初期の顧客を獲得することにも成功した。 
ジェームズ・アーサーもグラスゴー近郊のペイズリーで服地小売業を営み、新しい仕事に注目する一方で、ペイズリーの企業を監督する責任者に任命された
アーガイル・ストリートの店舗に隣接して卸売会社を設立した。1856年、卸売会社はグラスゴーのミラー・ストリートへ拡張のうえ移転し、Arthur & Co.の社名で商売を始めた。会社の小売部門は卸売部門によって生まれた空きビルに拡張された。
1850年代後半から1860年代前半にかけて、小売部門の会社は、初めはThomas Kirkpatrick、次いでAlexander McLarenの2人のプロの経営者によって運営された。1865年、創業者同士の協調が崩れ、フレーザーは小売会社の経営を引き受け、アーサーの卸売会社と分離された。同年、アレクサンダー・マクラーレンが小売会社の経営に加わり、社名がFraser & McLarenに変更された。

フレーザー & サンズ

When the first Hugh Fraser died in 1873, his three eldest sons, James, John and Hugh, acquired stakes in the business. James and John Fraser were initially directors in the business and employed Alexander McLaren and later John Towers to manage it for them. In 1891 Hugh also joined the partnership which by then was called Fraser & Sons.
In 1879 the current flagship store on Oxford Street in London was opened by Dan Harries Evans, a 23 year old from Whitemill in Carmarthenshire, Wales who had previously been apprenticed to a draper in Forest hamlet near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. He moved to London in 1878 to set up his own business in Westminster Bridge Road. The store traded under the D H Evans name until 2001.
By 1900 Hugh Fraser II was in charge: he incorporated the business as Fraser & Sons Ltd in 1909 and introduced the famous stag’s head. 
After Hugh Fraser II died in 1927, his son Hugh Fraser III, an accountant, became Chairman of the business. He opened new departments, enlarged the tearoom, opened a restaurant and also began to look at possible acquisitions. In 1936 he purchased Arnott & Co Ltd and its neighbour Robert Simpson & Sons Ltd in nearby Argyle Street, merging the companies to help improve trade. In 1948 the Company, now named House of Fraser, was first listed on the London Stock Exchange.

1950年代から70年代

In 1951 the Company purchased McDonalds Ltd, and with it a branch in Harrogate. Fraser then purchased the Scottish Drapery Corporation in 1952, followed by the Sunderland based Binns group of stores in 1953.
Fraser sold the property sites to insurance companies, leasing them back for long terms at advantageous rates. This enabled the release of capital for the purchase of new premises and the modernisation of existing stores. In 1957 the Kensington store group of John Barker & Co Ltd was acquired and in 1959 Harrods and Dickins & Jones also joined the Group.
Sir Hugh Fraser succeeded his father as Chairman of the company when his father died in 1966. Sir Hugh resumed the expansion of the company in 1969 with the takeover of J. J. Allen Ltd, a Bournemouth based group.
During the 1970s the House of Fraser Group acquired more companies including: T. Baird & Sons Ltd of Scotland, Switzer & Co. Ltd, Dublin, Ireland and E. Dingle & Co. Ltd, Chiesmans Ltd, Hide & Co and the Army & Navy Stores in southern England, as well as a number of independent stores, totalling over fifty stores during the decade. In 1973 it was considering merging with the British pharmacy company Boots, and was even subject to a written answer in the House of Commons. The government decided to ban the proposed merger in 1974.

1980年代から90年代

In 1981 Prof. Roland Smith succeeded Sir Hugh Fraser as chairman. A takeover bid by Lonrho was referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and declared to be contrary to the public interest. Four new stores opened between 1980 and 1984. which included D H Evans in Wood Green, North London, in 1980, Dickins & Jones in Milton Keynes, in 1981, Frasers in Perth in April 1984 and Dickins & Jones in Epsom, Surrey, in May 1984.
The company, by then House of Fraser plc, diversified into sports goods under the name of Astral Sports and Leisure (subsequently sold to Sears plc owned Olympus Sport division) and into funerals with Wylie & Lochhead. It also launched the YOU range of cosmetics and jewellery shops and in 1985 acquired Turnbull & Asser Holdings Ltd, shirt makers of Jermyn Street, London and Kurt Geiger Holdings Ltd, shoe retailers. Other developments during the 1980s included the introduction of "Lifestyle" merchandise ranges and a huge investment in store refurbishment nationwide. In 1983 the Company introduced the Frasercard, valid at all stores and administered from a central computing facility in Swindon.
In 1985 the Al Fayed family bought the business for £615 million. The Al Fayeds supported the continuing expansion of the company and replaced the stag's head logo with a stag leaping from a green triangle with shop signs of this period using a double layered san serif typeface. In 1988, a five year strategic business plan was announced which saw a rationalisation of stores. Small branches were to be relinquished and replaced with larger units.
In September 1990, two new department stores were opened, a House of Fraser in the Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield, and Schofields in Leeds. In 1991, a new House of Fraser store was opened at the Lakeside Shopping Centre in West Thurrock, Essex.
In 1994, before House of Fraser plc was relisted on the London Stock Exchange, Harrods was moved out of the group so that it could remain under the private ownership of the Al Fayed family. John Coleman, who was appointed chief executive of the House of Fraser Group in 1996, launched the Linea brand in 1997 and Platinum and Fraser the following year. The House of Fraser logo was revised in 1996 with the leaping stag now going over an "F" shadow and shop signs using a serif typeface. There were many store closures in this period which included the closure or selling off of branches in locations including Sheffield (House of Fraser), Newcastle (Binns), Sunderland (Binns), Bradford (Rackhams) and Leeds (Schofields which had closed only six years after opening although House of Fraser continued to have a presence with their Rackhams (now House of Fraser store) in the city) with the loss of around 1,000 jobs.
House of Fraser set up BL Fraser, a 50–50 joint venture with the British Land Company, in 1999 to buy 15 House of Fraser stores that would continue to be operated by House of Fraser. The company added to its private-label brands in 2000 with House of Fraser womenswear, The Collection menswear, and a Linea Home line.

2000年代以降

2003年、トム・ハンターは自身が株式を保有するオールダース百貨店との合併の可能性を示唆しつつ、ハウス・オブ・フレーザーに敵対的買収を仕掛けてきた。加えて、スコットランドでは大規模な事業再編に伴って、アバディーン、ダンディー、インバーネス、ペイズリー、パースの店舗が売却や閉鎖により削減された。
2005年はハウス・オブ・フレーザーにとって、4月にJennersの4店舗を4600万ポンドで買収、さらに同年夏にはミッドランドを基盤とする百貨店チェーンBeattiesの12店舗を6940万ポンドで買収して獲得するなど、重要な飛躍の年となった。この買収のほか、社内でも開発計画を継続し、アイルランドのダブリン市内ダンドラムに初の海外店舗を出店した。
2006年は1月2日にケンジントン・ハイ・ストリートで135年の歴史があったBarkersを閉鎖して自社のポートフォリオを強化した。さらに同月14日には、ロンドンのリージェント・ストリートに拠点を置くDickins & Jonesを閉鎖した上、バーミンガムのBeatties百貨店も同月内に閉鎖した。
In February 2006 the group announced that it had received a preliminary bid approach valuing it at £300 million, but the bidder, private equity firm Apax, later withdrew. In May 2006 House of Fraser confirmed a takeover approach from the Icelandic investor Baugur: they acquired the Company for £351.4 million in August 2006. As part of the Baugur takeover all brand names for their stores, including the Beatties branches, will be replaced with the House of Fraser name with the exception of Jenners with the stag logo axed and a new san serif typeface used on shop signs. 
In September 2007 House of Fraser launched its online store., and made the national news by ceasing to sell pate de foie gras.
The company had three major openings in 2008, including its first store in Northern Ireland in the newly built Victoria Square Centre, Belfast in March. At 200,000 ft² (19,000 m²) it was the largest store that House of Fraser had opened (as opposed to taken over) in the UK. On 25 September 2008 the company opened a 170,000 ft² (16,000 m²) store in the Cabot Circus development in Bristol, and a branch in Westfield London, a new 70,000 ft² (6,500 m²) store, on 30 October 2008. From Christmas 2008, House of Fraser co-operated with Regency Kitchens in supplying kitchens of the Sheraton range with a trial in its Birmingham branch.

コーポレートガバナンスと社会的責任

House of Fraser is a principal subsidiary by Highland Group Holdings Limited, 35% owned by Landsbanki. One of its former directors, Jon Asgeir Jóhannesson, is currently being investigated for fraud and is fighting allegations that he may have diverted US$2bn (£1.4bn) from collapsed Icelandic bank Glitnir. 
There was an allegation of a racist advertising campaign in 2007 resulting in House of Fraser having to pull one of its adverts with the now infamous slogan "black is back, white is right".
In 2002, House of Fraser settled an undisclosed amount for the use of illegal software.

運営

ハウス・オブ・フレーザーは都心型と郊外型の多様な60余りの店舗を有するイギリスで3番目に大きな百貨店グループである。ドンカスター、スウィンドン、レスターの3都市にあるハウス・オブ・フレーザー・アウトレットの店舗では、ディスカウントストアの形態により低価格で特別な商品を提供する。
また、House of Fraser.comを設立し'buy & collect'（買って集める）をコンセプトにした店舗の1号店を2011年10月にアバディーンで開業、その翌月には2号店をリヴァプールで開業した。これらの店舗は従来型の百貨店よりはるかに小規模で、タッチ式スクリーンの端末を通して商品を陳列している。

百貨店

以下で特に記さない限り、全店舗がハウス・オブ・フレーザーの店舗名で営業している。