page_title: Department store
section_title: U.K. today
hierarchical_section_title: Department store / Europe / United Kingdom / U.K. today
caption_attribution_description: English: Oxford Road, Reading. North side, c. 1920. Nos. 34, 32, 30, 28, 26, 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8 and 6, and Nos. 8, 6, 4 and 2 Cheapside (the department store of William McIlroy Ltd.) seen from opposite the corner of Cheapside. Part of No. 36 Oxford Road (The Snowflake Laundry) is visible. 1920-1929&#160;: photograph by Walton Adams. There is a postcard version at Dynix 1221711.This is a photo of listed building number 1113436.
context_page_description: A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appearance in the middle of the 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits, and the definition of service and luxury. Similar developments were under way in each of London, in Paris and in New York.
  Today, departments often include the following: clothing, furniture, home appliances, toys, cosmetics, houseware, gardening, toiletries, sporting goods, do it yourself, paint, and hardware. Additionally, other lines of products such as food, books, jewelry, electronics, stationery, photographic equipment, baby products, and products for pets are sometimes included. Customers generally check out near the front of the store in discount department stores, while higher-end traditional department stores include sales counters within each department. Some stores are one of many within a larger retail chain, while others are independent retailers.
context_section_description: Department stores tend to target different socio-economic and geographic segments:
  Upscale/Luxury: Harrods, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Liberty (department store)
  Middle market/Upscale: John Lewis, House of Fraser, Fenwick, Next plc
  Middle market/Downscale: Debenhams, Marks & Spencer
  Discount stores: TK Maxx
  Most of the early department stores in London started out as small drapery shops which bought up neighbouring shops and increased their range of products.
  The UK's first purpose-built department store was Compton House, Liverpool, completed in 1867 for the retailer J.R. Jeffrey, to replace a previous building which had burned down in 1865. It was probably the largest in the world at the time. It is occupied today by Marks & Spencer.
  Allders of Croydon, founded in 1862 by Joshua Allder, was the flagship of a large chain of department stores in the UK. The chain went into administration in 2005. The Croydon store was taken over by Harold Tillman of Jaeger trading as Allders but went into administration in June 2012.
  Whiteleys in Westbourne Grove was first to grow to department store size. By 1867 it consisted of 17 departments and by 1890 it was operating in a purposely built department store and had over 6,000 staff employed in the business.
  Barkers of Kensington can be defined as a department store by 1880, when it encompassed 15 neighbouring stores, and in 1889 the company moved into a new, large building. It was taken over by House of Fraser in 1957 and closed for business in 2006.
  Harrods was reborn as a proper department store in 1889, after a devastating fire in 1883.
  John Lewis was opened in 1864, and it currently operates 51 stores across the UK.
  Selfridges was opened in 1909 by the American entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge, and thus became London's seventh department store.
  House of Fraser owns and operates several department stores across the UK.
  Harvey Nichols of Sloane Street, Knightsbridge is Harrods' closest competitor.
  Debenhams is one of the UK's most popular department stores.
  Fenwick was founded in 1882 in Newcastle upon Tyne. Its flagship Newcastle store is one of the largest department stores in the country. The company is still family owned and is one of the largest independent department store chains in the country.
  John Lewis Newcastle (formerly Bainbridge) in Newcastle upon Tyne is the world's oldest department store. It is still known to many of its customers as Bainbridge, despite the name change to 'John Lewis'. The Newcastle institution dates back to 1838 when Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge, aged 21, went into partnership with William Alder Dunn and opened a draper's and fashion in Market Street, Newcastle. In terms of retailing history, one of the most significant facts about the Newcastle Bainbridge shop is that as early as 1849 weekly takings were recorded by department, making it the earliest of all department stores. This ledger survives and is kept in the John Lewis archives. John Lewis bought the Bainbridge store in 1952.
  John Lewis Newcastle retained its original name of Bainbridge until 2002, when the store was rebranded as John Lewis Newcastle.
  Also, Kendals in Manchester can lay claim to being one of the oldest department stores in the UK. Beginning as a small shop owned by S. and J. Watts in 1796, its sold a variety of goods. Kendal Milne and Faulkner purchased the business in 1835. Expanding the space, rather than using it as a typical warehouse simply to showcase textiles, it became a vast bazaar. Serving Manchester's upmarket clientele for over 200 years, it was taken over by House of Fraser and recently rebranded as House of Fraser Manchester – although most Mancunians still refer to it as Kendals. The Kendal Milne signage still remains over the main entrance to the art deco building in the city's Deansgate.
  In Edinburgh, Jenners saw a similar development. It started as a drapery shop in 1838. By 1890 it had grown into Scotland's largest retail shop by gobbling up all of the small shops in the neighbourhood. In 1895, after a devastating fire, a new ultra-modern building open
caption: The William McIlroy department store on Oxford Road in Reading c. 1920
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