West Lothian
West Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and one of its historic counties. It did however part of the Pentlands from Midlothian. The old county town was the burgh of Linlithgow. The council area borders, in a direction, the council areas of Edinburgh, the Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire. The county bordered Midlothian and Stirlingshire and its eastern border with Midlothian was formed by the Briech Water, from its source until it reached the Almond, and it followed the Almond to the Forth. The southern border was mostly arbitrary, while the border was formed first by the Drumtassie Burn. It had an area of 120 sq. miles, making it the third smallest of Scotlands 33 counties, significant towns not included in the council area are the coastal burghs of Boness and Queensferry and the town of Kirkliston. Geologically, most of the area is underlaid by Carboniferous sedimentary rocks running in strips from north to south, the eastern and southern rocks are the oldest and least useful.
Further west is a field of shale oil and basalt rocks supplying silica sand. The area rises from lowlands in the north to the Pentland Hills in the southeast, two thirds of the land is agricultural, while a tenth is urban. Significant watercourses include the Almond and the Union Canal, while the bodies of water are Linlithgow Loch. West Lothian was extensively settled in times, and several ancient burial sites have been uncovered. There are remains of hillforts on Cockleroy, Peace Knowe, Cairnpapple, the area was anciently inhabited by Britons of the tribe known as the Votadini or Gododdin. By 83 AD, southern Scotland had been conquered by Romans, in centuries the region was regularly overrun by Gaelic-speaking Scots, and it became permanently part of the Kingdom of Scotland in the 11th century. Scotland was split into sheriffdoms, what would become counties, the first known reference to a sheriff of Linlithgow occurs in a charter dating from the reign of his successor Malcolm IV. For a time West Lothian became a constabulary, but it seems to have made a sheriffdom again during the reign of James III.
In pre-industrial times West Lothian was almost entirely agricultural, in the way of heavy industry there was a silver mine at Cairnpapple, a cotton mill at Blackburn, paper mills at Linlithgow, and shallow coal mines around Bathgate and Whitburn. The county was changed by the Industrial Revolution, with the opening of deep-pit iron, coal
Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe is a town in Lincolnshire, England. It is the centre of the North Lincolnshire unitary authority. A predominantly industrial town, the United Kingdoms largest steel processing centre, is known as the Industrial Garden Town. It is the third largest settlement in Lincolnshire, after Lincoln, the Member of Parliament for Scunthorpe is Nic Dakin. Scunthorpe as a town came into existence due to the exploitation of the local ironstone resources, the regional population grew from 1,245 in 1851 to 11,167 in 1901 and 45,840 in 1941. During the expansion Scunthorpe expanded to include the villages of Scunthorpe, Frodingham. Scunthorpe became an district in 1891, merged as Scunthorpe and Frodingham Urban District in 1919. Scunthorpe is located close to an outcrop of high-lime-content ironstone from a seam of the Lias Group strata which dates from the Early Jurassic period, ironstone was mined by open cast methods from the 1850s onwards, and by underground mining from the late 1930s. In the 1970s the steel industry in Scunthorpe transitioned to use of imported from outside the UK with higher iron content.
Underground mining in the area ceased in 1981, Scunthorpe was close to the epicentre of one of the largest earthquakes experienced in the British Isles on 27 February 2008, with a magnitude of 5.2. Significant shocks were felt in Scunthorpe and the surrounding North Lincolnshire area, the main 10-second quake, which struck at 00,56 GMT at a depth of 9.6 mi, was the second largest recorded in the British Isles. In 1984 a quake with a magnitude of 5.4 struck north Wales, Scunthorpe forms an unparished area in the borough and unitary authority of North Lincolnshire. The town forms six of the seventeen wards, namely Ashby, Crosby & Park, Kingsway with Lincoln Gardens. The Scunthorpe wards elect 16 of the boroughs 43 councillors, as of 2008, all are members of the Labour party. The councillors form the trustees of the Town of Scunthorpe. North Lincolnshire Council is based in Pittwood House off Ashby Road next to Festival Gardens and it opened in 1963 as the Civic Centre, and was the home of Scunthorpe Borough Council until 1996.
It was named after Edwin Pittwood, a local Labour politician, there are offices at Church Square House near the Scunthorpe Market. Pittwood House has since renamed as Civic Centre due to the relocation of the Register Office from its old premises in Oswald road
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Northamptonshire in the south for just 20 yards, Englands shortest county boundary, the county town is Lincoln, where the county council has its headquarters. The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire is composed of the county of Lincolnshire. Therefore, part of the county is in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. The county is the second-largest of the English ceremonial counties and one that is predominantly agricultural in land use, the county is fifth largest of the two-tier counties, as the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire are not included. The county can be broken down into a number of geographical sub-regions including, Lincolnshire derived from the merging of the territory of the ancient Kingdom of Lindsey with that controlled by the Danelaw borough of Stamford. For some time the county was called Lindsey, and it is recorded as such in the 11th-century Domesday Book. In 1888 when county councils were set up, Lindsey and these survived until 1974, when Holland and most of Lindsey were unified into Lincolnshire.
A local government reform in 1996 abolished Humberside, and the south of the Humber was allocated to the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire. These two areas became part of Lincolnshire for ceremonial such as the Lord-Lieutenancy, but are not covered by the Lincolnshire police and are in the Yorkshire. The remaining districts of Lincolnshire are Boston, East Lindsey, North Kesteven, South Holland, South Kesteven and they are part of the East Midlands region. Lincolnshire is home to Woolsthorpe Manor and home of Sir Isaac Newton and he attended The Kings School and its library has preserved his signature, applied to a window sill when he was a teenager. Lincolnshire is an area, growing large amounts of wheat, sugar beet. In South Lincolnshire, where the soil is rich in nutrients, some of the most common crops include potatoes, cauliflowers. Most such companies are long gone, and Lincolnshire is no longer an engineering centre, however, as a result of the current economic climate some food production facilities have closed down, this has caused some reduction in the levels of migrant workers.
The large number of people from Portugal is still obvious in the town of Boston. A coalition of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Independents currently controls Lincolnshire County Council, the Conservative Party comfortably controlled the County Council following the 2009 local elections, in which they increased their majority to 43 seats. The Labour Party lost a total of 15 seats including 7 in Lincoln, the Lincolnshire Independents gained a total of four seats, although one of their number moved to the Conservative group during 2010, increasing the number of Conservative seats to 61
Grimsby
Grimsby, known as Great Grimsby, is a large town and seaport in Lincolnshire, England, on the South Bank of the Humber Estuary close to where it reaches the North Sea. It is the centre of North East Lincolnshire. Grimsby developed as a sea port on the east coast of England. The fishing industry declined dramatically after the Cod Wars, since the town has battled with post-industrial decline. Since the 1990s the local council has encouraged food manufacturing, the Grimsby–Cleethorpes conurbation acts as the cultural and industrial centre for a large area of northern and eastern Lincolnshire. People from Grimsby are called Grimbarians, the term codhead is used jokingly or disparagingly,22 January is Great Grimsby Day. The town was titled Great Grimsby to distinguish it from Little Grimsby, the town had a population of 88,243 in 2011. It is physically linked to and forms a conurbation with the town of Cleethorpes. Some 11,000 of its residents live in the village of Scartho, all three areas come under the jurisdiction of the same unitary authority, North East Lincolnshire.
It is close to the terminus of the A180, which ends in Cleethorpes. Grimsby lies in the national character areas of the Humber, the town was historically settled on low-lying islands and raised areas of the Humber marsh, and subsequently expanded onto the surrounding marshes as they were drained. The town still has areas named East Marsh and West Marsh, the Lincolnshire Wolds are situated to the south west of the town, from which the towns River Freshney rises. There is some evidence of a small town of Roman workers sited in the area in the second century. Located on the River Haven, which flowed into the Humber and it was well situated to exploit the rich fishing grounds in the North Sea. Grimsby was settled by Danes sometime in the 9th century AD, according to legend, the name Grimsby derives from the name Grim, a Danish fisherman, the suffix -by being the Old Norse word for village. The legendary founding of Grimsby is described in Lay of Havelock the Dane, in Norse mythology and Grimnir are names adopted by the deity Odin when travelling incognito amongst mortals, as in the short poem known as Grimnirs Sayings in the Poetic Edda.
The intended audience of the Havelock tale may have understood the fisherman Grim to be Odin in disguise, the Odinic name Grimr/Grim occurs in many English placenames within the historical Danelaw and elsewhere in Britain, examples being the numerous earthworks named Grimsdyke. As other British placenames containing the element Grim are explained as referring to Woden/Odin, Grimsby is listed in the Domesday Book as having a population of around 200, a priest, a mill and a ferry
Lidl
KG, formerly Schwarz Unternehmens Treuhand KG, is a German global discount supermarket chain, based in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, that operates over 10,000 stores across Europe. It belongs to the holding company Schwarz Gruppe, which owns the store chains Handelshof. Lidl is the competitor of the similar German discount chain Aldi. In 1930, Josef Schwarz became a partner in Südfrüchte Großhandel Lidl & Co. a fruit wholesaler, as a result of the war, the company was destroyed in 1944, and a 10-year reconstruction period soon started. In 1977, under his son Dieter Schwarz, the Schwarz-Gruppe began to focus on discount markets, larger supermarkets, when he discovered a newspaper article about the painter and retired schoolteacher Ludwig Lidl, he bought the rights to the name from him for 1,000 German marks. Lidl is part of the Schwarz Group, the fifth-largest retailer in the world sales of $82.4 billion. The first Lidl discount store was opened in 1973, copying the Aldi concept, Schwarz rigorously removed merchandise that did not sell from the shelves, and cut costs by keeping the size of the retail outlets as small as possible.
By 1977, the Lidl chain comprised 33 discount stores, since launching in the United Kingdom in September 1994, Lidl has grown consistently, and today has over 650 stores. Sven Seidel was appointed CEO of the company in March 2014 after the previous CEO Karl-Heinz Holland stepped down, Holland had served as chief executive since 2008 but left due to undisclosed unbridgeable differences over future strategy. Seidel stepped down from his position in February 2017 after Manager Magazin reported he had out of favour with Klaus Gehrig. Seidel was succeeded as CEO by Dane Jesper Hojer, previously head of Lidls international buying operation, in June 2015, the company announced it would establish a United States headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Lidl is focusing on locations in East Coast states, between Pennsylvania and Georgia, issues may arise, due to the unrelated chain of stores known as Lidl in the United States. In October 2009, Lidl Movies was launched in the United Kingdom, undercutting Tesco DVD Rental, the service was powered by OutNow DVD Rental.
OutNow went into liquidation in October 2011, taking Lidl Movies with it, in January 2012, Lidl launched bakeries in their stores across Europe. They consist of a small baking area with a number of ovens, together with an area where bread and pastries, in August 2013, Lidl UK launched an online photo service, which prints photos and photo gifts at discounted prices. When the carton is empty, it is replaced with a full one. Staffing is minimal, so that a profit can still be made even though the prices are low, together with Aldi, Lidl has carved out its own niche with this approach. Like Aldi, Lidl has special weekly offers, and its stock of non-food items often changes with time, in contrast to Aldi, Lidl advertises extensively in its homeland of Germany
Aldi
Aldi is the common brand of two leading global discount supermarket chains with over 10,000 stores in 18 countries, and an estimated combined turnover of more than €50 billion. Based in Germany, the chain was founded by brothers Karl, the two operate independently, each within distinct geographical areas. Both are among the worlds largest privately owned companies, in 1962, they introduced the name Aldi, which is pronounced. The formal business name is Aldi Einkauf GmbH & Compagnie, oHG, the individual groups were originally owned and managed jointly by the brothers. Dieter Schwarz, owner of Lidl and Kaufland came in third, Trader Joes in the USA is owned by members of the Albrecht family but is not part of Aldi. One of Aldis direct competitors internationally is Lidl, the earliest roots of the company trace back to 1913, when the mother of Karl and Theo Albrecht opened a small store in a suburb of Essen. Their father was employed as a miner and as a bakers assistant, Karl Albrecht was born in 1920, Theo Albrecht in 1922.
Theo Albrecht completed an apprenticeship in his mothers store, while Karl Albrecht worked in a delicatessen, Karl Albrecht took over a food shop formerly run by F. W. Judt who already advertised that they were the cheapest food source. Karl Albrecht served in the German Army during World War II, in 1946, the brothers took over their mothers business and soon opened another retail outlet nearby. By 1950, the Albrecht brothers owned 13 stores in the Ruhr Valley, the brothers idea, which was new at the time, was to subtract the legal maximum rebate of 3% before sale. The market leaders at the time, which often were co-operatives, required their customers to collect rebate stamps, when the brothers split the company in 1960 over a dispute whether they should sell cigarettes, they owned 300 shops with a cash flow of DM90 million yearly. In 1962, they introduced the name Aldi—short for Albrecht-Diskont, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have been financially and legally separate since 1966, although both divisions names may appear with certain store brands or when negotiating with contractor companies.
After German reunification and the fall of the Iron Curtain Aldi experienced a rapid expansion, the brothers retired as CEOs in 1993, control of the companies was placed in the hands of private family foundations, the Siepmann Foundation and the Markus Foundation. The Aldi Nord group currently consists of 35 independent regional branches with approximately 2,500 stores, Aldi Süd is made up of 31 companies with 1,600 stores. The border between their territories is commonly known as ″Aldi-Äquator″ and runs from the Rhine via Mülheim an der Ruhr, Marburg and Gießen east to just north of Fulda. The former East Germany is served by Aldi Nord, except for one Aldi Süd in Sonneberg, the regional branches are organised as limited partnerships with a regional manager for each branch who reports directly to the head office in Essen or Mülheim an der Ruhr. The Aldi group operates over 8,000 stores worldwide, a store opens roughly every week in Britain alone. Aldi Nord is responsible for its stores in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Portugal, Aldi Süds responsibilities are in the United States and Slovenia, United Kingdom, Ireland and Switzerland
BBC Online
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBCs online service. The website has gone through several branding changes since it was launched, originally named BBC Online, it was rebranded as BBCi before being named bbc. co. uk. It was renamed BBC Online again in 2008, however the service uses the branding BBC, the web-based service of the BBC is one of the most visited websites and the worlds largest news website. As of 2007, it contained two million pages. On 2 March 2010, the BBC reported that it cut its website spending by 25% and close BBC6 Music. On 24 January 2011, the cuts of 25% were announced leaving a £34 million shortfall. This resulted in the closure of several sites, including BBC Switch, BBC Blast, 6-0-6, and this led to the official launch of BBC Online at the www. bbc. co. uk address in December 1997. Later, BBC Online launched licence fee funded web sites for Top of the Pops and Top Gear, Beeb. com was refocussed as an online shopping guide, and was closed in 2002. Beeb. com now redirects to the BBC Shop website, run by BBC Worldwide.
In 1999, the BBC bought the www. bbc. com domain name for $375,000, previously owned by Boston Business Computing, as of 2005, www. bbcnc. org. uk no longer exists. In 2001, BBC Online was rebranded as BBCi. the website launched on 7 November 2001, the BBCi name was conceived as an umbrella brand for all the BBCs digital interactive services across web, digital teletext, interactive TV and on mobile platforms. The navbar was designed to offer a similar system to the i-bar on BBCi interactive television. Interactive TV services continued under the BBCi brand until it was dropped completely in 2008, the BBCs online video player, the iPlayer has, retained an i-prefix in its branding. The widget-based design was inspired by such as Facebook and iGoogle. The new homepage incorporated the design used in the 1970s on the BBCs television service into the large header. The new BBC homepage left beta on Wednesday,27 February 2008 to serve as the new BBC Homepage under the same URL as the previous version.
On 30 January 2010, a new design became available as a beta version. This homepage expanded on the idea and the customisation theme
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, the legal system within Scotland has remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law.
Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages.
Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc, trading as Morrisons, is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1899 by William Morrison, hence the abbreviation Wm Morrison, it began as an egg and butter stall in Rawson Market, Bradford, as of May 2014 the company had 515 superstores across England and Scotland. There is a Morrisons store in Gibraltar, which is the only store outside of Great Britain. Morrisons market share in June 2015 was 11%, down 0. 3% from 2014 – behind Tesco, Asda Sainsburys, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is part of the FTSE100 Index of companies. The Morrison family currently owns around 10% of the company, the company was founded by William Morrison in 1899 who started the business as an egg and butter merchant in Rawson Market, England, operating under the name of Wm Morrison Limited. His son Ken Morrison took over the company in 1952, aged 21, in 1958, Morrisons opened a small shop in the city centre.
It was the first self-service store in Bradford, the first store to have prices on its products, the company opened its first supermarket, Victoria, in the Girlington district of Bradford in 1961. In 1967, Morrisons became a limited company listed on the London Stock Exchange. In March 2004 Morrisons, acquired Safeway, a British supermarket chain which owned 479 stores, the company was purchased for £3.3 billion, comprising 1 new Morrisons share, plus 60 pence in cash for each Safeway share held. The acquisition quickly ran into difficulties caused in part by Safeway UKs outgoing management changing that chains accounting systems six weeks before the transaction was completed, the result was a series of profit warnings being issued by Morrisons, poor financial results and a reversion to manual systems. Within a few weeks, Safeway carrier bags were replaced by those of Morrisons and Morrisons own-brand products began to appear in Safeway stores. John Lewis Partnership purchased 19 to be part of its Waitrose chain, while J Sainsbury plc purchased a further 14, at the time Morrisons chose not to move into the convenience store sector.
In Northern Ireland Morrisons sold the Safeway stores to Asda and this included a store in Bangor that opened after the Morrisons takeover. One of the largest single purchases in 2005 was that of five stores by Waitrose, on 18 July 2006, a further six stores from the Rump format were sold to Waitrose, including the former Safeway store in Hexham, which became Englands most northerly Waitrose branch. In May 2005, Morrisons announced the closure of Safeways joint venture convenience store/petrol station format with BP, under the deal, the premises had been split 50/50 between the two companies. In 2011, Sandpiper CI/CI Traders sold the Channel Island Safeway stores to Waitrose, on the Isle of Man, the Douglas store was sold to Shoprite and the Ramsey store was sold to The Co-operative Food. The Gibraltar store was originally marketed for sale, but has now been converted under the Rump format, in November 2006, plans were submitted for the extension and redevelopment of the store in order to introduce the full Morrisons format.
In September 2005 the company announced the closure of former Safeway depots in Kent, the Kent depot has since been sold to upmarket rival Waitrose, whilst Warrington was sold to frozen food rival Iceland
Sainsbury's
Sainsburys is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 16. 9% share of the supermarket sector in the United Kingdom. The holding company, J Sainsbury plc, is split into three divisions, Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd, Sainsburys Bank and Sainsburys Argos, the groups head office is in the Sainsburys Store Support Centre in Holborn Circus, City of London. The group has interests in property, the largest overall shareholder is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, the Qatar Investment Authority, who hold 25. 999% of the company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index, Sainsburys was established as a partnership in 1869, when John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann opened a store at 173 Drury Lane in Holborn, London. Sainsbury started as a retailer of fresh foods and expanded into packaged groceries such as tea and his trading philosophy, as stated on a sign outside his first shop in Islington, Quality perfect, prices lower.
Sainsburys was very innovative in that its stores, instead of featuring five own-brand lines as arch-rival Home and Colonial did, instead of sawdust floors and wooden counters, Sainsburys boasted marble counters, mosaic floors, and white-tiled walls. Staff even had a uniform of white aprons, Stores started to look similar, so people could recognise them throughout London, a high cast-iron J. In 1922, J Sainsbury was incorporated as a company, as J. Sainsbury Limited. By this time each store had the departments, dairy and hams, poultry and game, cooked meats. Groceries were introduced in 1903, when John James purchased a branch at 12 Kingsland High Street. Home delivery featured in every store, as there were fewer cars in those days, sites were carefully chosen, with a central position in a parade selected in preference to a corner shop. This allowed a larger display of products, which could be kept cooler in summer, by the time John James Sainsbury died in 1928, there were over 128 shops. His last words were said to be, Keep the shops well lit and he was replaced by his eldest son, John Benjamin Sainsbury, who had gone into partnership with his father in 1915.
The company acquired the Midlands-based Thoroughgood chain in 1936, following the outbreak of World War II, many of the men who worked for Sainsburys were called to perform National Service and were replaced by women. Turnover fell to half the pre-war level, Food was rationed, and one particular store in East Grinstead was so badly damaged on Friday 9 July 1943 that it had to move to the local church, while a new one was built. This store was not completed until 1951, in 1956, Alan Sainsbury became chairman after the death of his father, John Benjamin Sainsbury. The first self-service branch opened in Croydon in 1950, Sainsburys was a pioneer in the development of own-brand goods, the aim was to offer products that matched the quality of nationally branded goods but at a lower price. It expanded more cautiously than did Tesco, shunning acquisitions, until the company went public on 12 July 1973, as J Sainsbury plc, the company was wholly owned by the Sainsbury family
Kwik Save
Kwik Save is a British discount supermarket chain that was founded in Wales. It has stores across the United Kingdom and it went into administration in 2007, but was brought back in April 2012. Its stores were small to medium-sized high street supermarkets, mainly located in areas with average incomes. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was once a constituent of the FTSE100 Index and it was resurrected in a smaller form with nine stores, but this second incarnation of FreshXpress went into administration, and ceased trading in 2009. All remaining stores have since been closed, in 2012, the brand was relaunched as a budget fascia for convenience stores supplied by Costcutter. It was founded as Value Foods by Welsh entrepreneur Albert Gubay on 11 May 1959, the company rented its first retail shop in Queen Street, Rhyl, in July 1959. Further traditional stores were opened in Chester and Wrexham, in 1964, Gubay visited the United States with fellow director Ken Nicholson, and learnt about the baby shark method of retailing.
The first Kwik Save Discount branded store opened in Colwyn Bay, produced more sales than the existing Value Foods supermarkets, just before it was floated on to the London Stock Exchange in November 1970, the company changed its name to Kwik Save Discount Group Ltd. In 1973, Gubay sold Kwik Save for $28 million, Gubay repeated the low-price retail model using the 3 Boys brand in New Zealand and the United States. In 1994, Kwik Save acquired 117 supermarkets from Shoprite, a fellow food discounter, the company subsequently accepted that it was focused too much on acquisitions rather than its existing operations. It announced the closure of 107 under-performing stores in 1996, in February 1998, Kwik Save merged with Somerfield, and began operating as a trading division of Somerfield Stores Ltd. Following the merger, Somerfields Food Giant discount supermarkets were re-branded as Kwik Save, for this reason, the plan was abandoned and the best Kwik Save stores were converted, based on location and market demand, receiving a full refurbishment.
On 27 February 2006, Somerfield Stores Ltd sold the brand and the remaining 171 stores to BTTF, Somerfield re-branded the 102 Kwik Save sites it retained under its own name and a further 77 stores were sold to other retailers, including 19 to Netto. According to a report in PR Week in April 2006, Kwik Save hired an agency in a bid to revitalise the brand. Around £200,000 was allocated to public relations as part of a marketing brief worth £4m-£5m. In October 2006, it was announced that a £30m refinancing package from unnamed investors was put in place, some of those purchased were included in the Competition Commission investigation ruling into Somerfields purchase of 114 Safeway Compact stores in 2004. In December 2006, The Sunday Times reported that Kwik Save was suffering from a fall in sales and mounting losses. On 22 January 2007, it was reported that Kwik Save was suffering problems over delays in payment to its major suppliers, on 29 January 2007, it was reported that a new investor was about to inject £70 million into the Kwik Save business
Retail
Retail markets and shops have a very ancient history, dating back to antiquity. Retailing involves the process of selling goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit. Retailers satisfy demand is identified through a supply chain, Once the strategic retail plan is in place, retailers devise the retail mix which includes product, place, promotion and presentation. In the digital age, a number of retailers are seeking to reach broader markets by selling through multiple channels. Digital technologies are changing the way that consumers pay for goods. Retailing support services may include the provision of credit, delivery services. Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products, sometimes this is done to obtain final goods, including necessities such as food and clothing, sometimes it takes place as a recreational activity. Recreational shopping often involves window shopping and browsing, it not always result in a purchase. Retail shops occur in a range of types and in many different contexts - from strip shopping centres in residential streets through to large.
Shopping streets may restrict traffic to pedestrians only, forms of non-shop retailing include online retailing and mail order. Retail comes from the Old French word tailler, which means to cut off, pare and it was first recorded as a noun with the meaning of a sale in small quantities in 1433. Like in French, the retail in both Dutch and German refers to the sale of small quantities of items. Also see History of merchants, History of the market place, open air, public markets were known in ancient Babylonia and Assyria. These markets typically occupied a place in the towns centre, surrounding the market, skilled artisans, such as metal-workers and leather workers, occupied premises in alley ways that led to the open market-place. These artisans may have sold wares directly from their premises, in ancient Greece markets operated within the agora, and in ancient Rome the forum. In antiquity, exchange involved direct selling, merchants or peddlers, the Phoenicians, noted for their seafaring skills, plied their ships across the Mediterranean, becoming a major trading power by 9th century BCE.
The Phoenicians imported and exported wood, textiles and produce such as wine, dried fruit, the Phoenicians extensive trade networks necessitated considerable book-keeping and correspondence. In around 1500 BCE, the Phoenicians developed an alphabet which was much easier to learn that the complex scripts used in ancient Egypt
£1.252 billion (2017)[3]
.jpg)
.jpg)
Media related to Nisa (retailer) at Wikimedia Commons
