Morleys Stores is a group of eight department stores in Greater London, a business-to-business furniture supply subsidiary called Morley's of Bicester Ltd and a department store & furniture centre called Camp Hopson of Newbury in Newbury, Berkshire.[2] The group is named after the original store that opened in Brixton, south London as Morley & Lanceley.
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1 October 1897[1] |
| Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 8 stores (2014) |
Key people | Bernard Dreesmann |
| Revenue | £90.6 million |
| £5.6 million | |
Number of employees | 1000 |
| Subsidiaries | Morley's of Bicester Ltd |
| Website | www |
History
editIn 1854 Joseph Hopson opened a furniture business on West Street, Newbury. In 1886, Alfred Camp opened a drapery bazaar on Northbrook Street. The business ran as separate entities until 1920, when Paul Hopson, grandson of Joseph, married the daughter of Alfred, Norah, and the companies were merged to form Camp Hopson.[3]
In 1929, the Brixton store started selling contract furniture, eventually expanding and moving to Bicester. It acquired the similar businesses of Duncan Roberts Ltd in 2002 and Principal Furniture Ltd in 2005.[4]
The Brixton Road shop originally traded as Morley & Lanceley. In 2009 Morleys bought Roomes Fashion and Home in Upminster[5] and in 2010 it bought the Pearsons stores in Enfield and Bishop's Stortford.[6] Smith Bros in Tooting was rebranded Morleys on 1 November 2010[7] and the Pearsons store in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire closed during 2012.[8]
In November 2014, Morley's purchased Camp Hopson of Newbury which consists of a department store and furniture centre.[9]
In the year to January 2014 group profit was £5.6 million on turnover of £90.6 million.[10]
In November 2016, it was confirmed that Morleys had signed up for its ninth store, taking over the vacated former British Home Stores premises at Broadway Shopping Centre, Bexleyheath. The new store opened in spring 2017.[11]
In November 2023, the company made a £5.5 million investment in chocolate café chain Knoops Chocolate.[12]
Operations
editMorleys is a member of the Solihull-based Associated Independent Stores buying group, the supplier of non-food goods to 350 companies with about 600 small and medium-sized independent outlets[13] with textile and other non-food goods.
List of current Morleys Group stores as of 2023.
Morleys
- Bexleyheath
- Brixton
- Tooting (formerly Smith Bros of Tooting[14])
Other branding
- Pearsons (Located in Enfield)
- Selby's (Located in Holloway) (Formerly James Selby)
- Camp Hopson (Located in Newbury)
- Roomes (Located in Upminster)
- Elys (Located in Wimbledon)
Defunct
- Bodgers (Located in Illford) (Closed in 2018)
References
edit- ^ "DueDil". www.duedil.com.
- ^ Morleys Stores Ltd Archived 1 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Camp Hopson of Newbury has been sold - newburytoday.co.uk 4/11/14". Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
- ^ Morley's of Bicester Ltd Archived 28 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ London department store group targets Roomes of Upminster acquisition, The Furnishing Report, Letchworth Hertfordshire, 1 June 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ Morleys acquires Pearsons department stores, 9 November 2010 Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Pearsons confirm closure of Bishop's Stortford store - Bishop's Stortford news".
- ^ Camp Hopson of Newbury has been sold | Newbury Weekly News Archived 4 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Morleys Stores Limited, Company report quoted by Worksmart, TUC, London, Undated Archived 23 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "Bexley.gov.uk, 2016-11-25". Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ Hunt, Simon (27 November 2023). "Hot chocolate chain Knoops in £8m funding round to double store numbers". Evening Standard. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
- ^ AIS - A partnership for profit, Corporate website, undated.Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "About Morleys".