"stores sold to Home Retail Group. In September 2016, UK retailer Sainsbury's bought Home Retail Group, including Argos and Habitat, for £1.4 billion (about $1.85 billion). Sir Terence Conran founded Habitat in London in 1964, opening his own store to market his Summa range of furniture. The first store was opened in Fulham Road in Chelsea by Conran, his then wife Caroline, Philip Pollock and the model Pagan Taylor. This store became the Habitat template, with its quarry tiled floor, whitewashed brick walls, white-painted wooden-slatted ceilings and spotlights creating a feeling of space and focusing attention on the product. Conran"
"the corner of Markham Square and King's Road in Chelsea, London called ""Bazaar"", above ""Alexander's"", a basement restaurant run by Plunket Green. In 1957, they opened the second branch of ""Bazaar"", which was designed by Terence Conran. Successful designs from this early period included small white plastic collars to brighten up sweaters and dresses, bright stockings in colours matched to her knitwear, men's cardigans made long enough to be worn as dresses, and a pair of ""mad"" lounging pyjamas made by Quant herself which were featured in ""Harper's Bazaar"" and purchased by an American manufacturer to copy. Following this, Quant"
"within Topman Oxford Circus. These stores however were closed by Dune. The Chelsea Cobbler The Chelsea Cobbler (also sometimes Chelsea Cobbler) is a British shoe brand that was established in the 1960s in Chelsea. Originally a high-fashion brand creating bespoke (made-to-measure) shoes, it was regularly featured in catwalk shows and the fashion press throughout the 1970s, when it also had a retail presence in New York City. It was twice chosen as part of the Dress of the Year ensemble displayed at the Fashion Museum, Bath. Later the brand was absorbed into larger fashion companies. It was relaunched in 2009."
"& Gabbana, Prada, Gucci, Harrods, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo, Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Valentino, Bvlgari, Gianni Versace and Graff. On 27 November 1974, the London unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded twin bombs on Tite Street, injuring 20 people. In the 18th century, Chelsea Cricket Club was prominent for a time and played its home matches on what was then Chelsea Common, an area that virtually disappeared under building work in the 19th century. Records have survived of five important matches between 1731 and 1789 which involved the Chelsea club and/or were played on the"
"largest and best-known department stores in central London. It is a store of the John Lewis Partnership and located on Sloane Square, at the junction of King's Road and Sloane Street, in the fashionable Chelsea district, close to the elite districts of Belgravia and Knightsbridge. Peter Jones was founded as an independent store but was bought by John Lewis, owner of the eponymous store in Oxford Street, in 1905. In 1929 Lewis's son, John Spedan Lewis, who then owned both businesses, combined them into a single business. The John Lewis Partnership also owns Waitrose & Partners, an upmarket supermarket chain"
"Conran then created a fine dining range, White Oak, launched in the USA. Sophie Conran for Portmeirion is sold in over 55 countries. In December 2007, Conran was a designer in the Save the Children's Festival of Trees fundraising event. In 2007, Conran collaborated with Notting Hill Melt chocolates, to create a chocolate inspired by sweet pies from her first book ""Sophie Conran's Pies"". The chocolate uses a combination of flavours including Earl Grey tea, ginger and cranberry. In 2008 Sophie teamed up with bathroom store Drummonds of Chelsea to redesign their Chelsea showroom. In 2011 a range of coloured"
"This gave Hepworth over 600 shops in British high streets. The intention was to redevelop Kendall's stores as a womenswear chain of shops to complement Hepworth as a chain of menswear stores. Terence Conran, the designer, was Chairman of Hepworth at this time and he recruited George Davies to work at Kendall's. However Davies's concept was to create a new chain, called Next, initially by converting Kendall's stores. The first Next shops opened on 12 February 1982, with the Kendall's conversion complete by the end of 1983. Made chief executive in 1984, Davies then converted 50 Hepworth stores to the"
"chain and it was one of the fastest growing speciality retailing businesses in Europe. Mirman had become the 188th richest person in Britain, and its youngest millionaire. They were held up as examples of Britain's new entrepreneurial flair in the 1980s. In November 1987, Sock Shop (recently renamed as a company to ""Sock Shop International P.L.C"") opened three stores in Manhattan, aiming (as in London) towards walk-by traffic. One of these outlets was at the 42nd Street entrance to Grand Central Station, the same principle as behind the first British store's placement. A couple of years later, when recession struck,"
"to Philip Green for £200m cash. Storehouse then changed its name to Mothercare. In 2002, the Mothercare Chief Executive was ousted after its fourth profits warning in a year. Storehouse plc Storehouse plc, traded as Storehouse, 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. The company was formed in 1986 by the merger of Habitat Mothercare PLC with British Home Stores PLC. In 1988 Storehouse"
"Chelsea porcelain factory's ""botanical"" designs of the 1750s. It was launched in 1972 and, with new designs added periodically, is still made today, the most successful ceramics series of botanical subjects. More recent designs have included Sophie Conran's ""Crazy Daisy"" and ""Dawn Chorus"". On 23 April 2009, Portmeirion Potteries Ltd purchased the Royal Worcester and Spode brands, after they had been placed into administration the previous November. Portmeirion Potteries has since changed its company name to Portmeirion Group to reflect this acquisition. The purchase did not include the manufacturing facilities of Royal Worcester or Spode. The manufacture of much of"
"The Chelsea Cobbler The Chelsea Cobbler (also sometimes Chelsea Cobbler) is a British shoe brand that was established in the 1960s in Chelsea. Originally a high-fashion brand creating bespoke (made-to-measure) shoes, it was regularly featured in catwalk shows and the fashion press throughout the 1970s, when it also had a retail presence in New York City. It was twice chosen as part of the Dress of the Year ensemble displayed at the Fashion Museum, Bath. Later the brand was absorbed into larger fashion companies. It was relaunched in 2009. The Chelsea Cobbler's first store opened in April 1967 in Draycott"
"in 1918, and his mother in 1922, Gordon squandered his fortune. In 1941, he left Selfridges. In 1951 the store was acquired by the Liverpool-based Lewis's chain of department stores, which was in turn taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group owned by Charles Clore. Expanded under the Sears group to include branches in Oxford, Manchester and Birmingham, in 2003 the chain was acquired by Canada's Galen Weston for £598 million. In 2011, the Weston family bought 388–396 Oxford Street, which is located immediately to the east of the Selfridges building across Duke Street, on which fashion chain French"
"was relaunched in London in December 2011 as a brand of men's jeans. Jean Machine Jean Machine was a chain of British retail stores selling jeans. It was founded in 1971 by Tony Lonsdale, nicknamed the 'Blue Jean King'. Together with his brother Tim they brought jeans over from California and, after initial resistance from wholesalers, set up shop on the King's Road. Lonsdale opened The Pant House in Hornton Street, Kensington, then The Rag Machine and The Jean Machine next door to each other at 161 and 163 King's Road, Chelsea, and another Pant House nearby. Jean Machine became"
"retail stores across the United Kingdom, as well as international stores in over 40 countries. The company was founded in 1886 by Walter Whittard, a merchant from London. Originally the company only sold tea; however, within a few years it had diversified. The company expanded in the 1980s and 1990s in the UK and abroad. The investment company Baugur Group of Iceland bought Whittard of Chelsea in 2005 for about £21m. In the year to the end of March 2007, Whittard reported a loss of £3.2m. Baugur was hit hard by Iceland's financial collapse in 2008, and placed the company"
"Storehouse plc Storehouse plc, traded as Storehouse, 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. The company was formed in 1986 by the merger of Habitat Mothercare PLC with British Home Stores PLC. In 1988 Storehouse appointed a new chief executive, Michael Julien, to replace Terence Conran who remained as chairman until 1990, and the group was reorganised into three divisions, British Home Stores, 'Speciality"
"as an ambulance station. In the late 1990s the main building housed a fashion market In 1997 the building was converted by Sir Terence Conran's Conran Group into the ""Bluebird Gastrodrome"", including a restaurant, bar, café and private dining rooms. The garage area was occupied by the Sainsbury's supermarket chain as an experimental ""concept"" shop. Sainsbury's withdrew from the space, which made way for ""The Shop at Bluebird"", a high-end clothes, furniture and book shop. Bluebird Garage Bluebird Chelsea, at 330–350 King's Road, Chelsea, London, is a Grade II-listed building that is now a noted D&D London restaurant and café,"
"features, including the company's star insignia, the All Star's rubber sole, smooth rounded toe, and wrap-around strip. Converse manufactures its products under the Cons, Chuck Taylor All-Star, John Varvatos, and Jack Purcell trade names. In addition to apparel and footwear, the company sells other items through retailers in over 160 countries and through approximately 75 company-owned retail stores across the United States, and employed 2,658 in the U.S. in 2015. At age 47, Marquis Mills Converse, who was previously a manager at a footwear manufacturing firm, opened the Converse Rubber Shoe Company in February 1908 in Malden, Massachusetts. The company"
"acquired by the Liverpool-based Lewis's chain of department stores. Lewis's and Selfridges were then taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group, owned by Charles Clore. Expanded under the Sears Group to include branches in Manchester and Birmingham, the chain was acquired in 2003 by Canada's Galen Weston for £598 million. The shop's early history was dramatised in ITV's 2013 series, ""Mr Selfridge"". The basis of Harry Gordon Selfridge's success was his relentlessly innovative marketing, which was elaborately expressed in his Oxford Street store. Originally from America himself, Selfridge attempted to dismantle the idea that consumerism was strictly an American"
"in 1923. The business grew into a small chain of department stores and in 1946, Burtons (now Arcadia Group) took over the chain. The business continued to expand, with new stores opening across the United Kingdom, including Lime Street in Liverpool. Anglia Television televised the opening of the Peter Robinson Store in Hay Hill (still a Topshop). At the height of the business Peter Robinson had 39 stores. In 1964, to try and attract the younger buyer, Peter Robinson's Topshop was opened on the third floor of the Sheffield store (located in Angel Place, now Primark). In 1965, the basement"
"Thames area of London next to Tower Bridge that includes the Design Museum. His business, Conran and Partners, is a design company comprising product, brand and interior designers and architects, working on projects all over the world. Conran designs furniture for Marks & Spencer, J. C. Penney, Content by Conran, Benchmark and The Conran Shop. Conran has also created various other London restaurants including the Soop Kitchen, Orrery, Quaglino's, Mezzo, worked with Joel Kissin on Le Pont de la Tour, Blueprint Cafe, Butler's Wharf Chop House, together with restaurants in various other countries. In 2005, he was named as the"
"Japanese designer Kenzo Takada. The success of this early collaboration led to a move into fashion retailing, with the first store opening below the Chelsea hair salon in the early 1970s and the first large-scale retail outlet opening on Sloane Street in 1979. Joseph stores championed the work of many up-and-coming designers, including Margaret Howell, Katharine Hamnett, John Galliano and Azzedine Alaïa. Own brand clothing began with distinctive knitwear (Joseph Tricot) and went on to include women’s clothing, perfume, homewares (Joseph Pour La Maison), and Joe's restaurants. Joseph has been the recipient of a number of British Fashion Awards, including"
"be fit for dogs or pigs. A year and a half later an SOS note from an alleged Chinese torture victim was found in socks purchased from Primark. Primark Primark (; named Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish fast fashion retailer headquartered in Dublin, and a subsidiary of ABF. The company's first store was founded by Arthur Ryan on behalf of the Weston family in June 1969 on 47 Mary Street, Dublin, the store remains operative to this day. Success in Ireland led to expansion to the United Kingdom, and Penneys opened a large store in Belfast"
"to continue his work on the exclusive Jimmy Choo Couture shoe line, which is produced under license from J. Choo Ltd., available by appointment only at Connaught Street in London. The first Jimmy Choo store was opened in 1996 on Motcomb Street in London. Two years later, the company expanded to the US, opening two stores in New York City and Beverly Hills. Over the following years, Jimmy Choo expanded its store portfolio by opening directly operated stores and with local partners. Over 2011 and 2012, Jimmy Choo took control of the majority of its Asian operations in China, Hong"
"years later he was head of product design at Mothercare. Conran established Sebastian Conran Associates, a product and brand development consultancy, in 1986, and in 1992 started a separate design partnership with Tom Dixon, another designer. From 1999, he headed product and branding design at Studio Conran under Conran & Partners, part of the Conran Group led by his father Sir Terence Conran. In 2008, he re-established the design company Sebastian Conran Associates as managing director, based in west London. Conran has designed for the department store chain John Lewis. As a writer he produced articles, books, and papers on"
"during the 1940s.[4] In 1969, Strawbridge set his sights on competing with the emerging Target-grade retailers,[6] launching the Clover discount store chain; the first Clover store opened in 1971. Located in strip centers rather than malls for the most part, Clover grew to have 26 locations, more than the 21 full-service S&C stores. Most Clover stores closed in the winter of 1997. Some Strawbridge's stores had restaurants inside, like at Christiana Mall in Newark, Delaware as well as the Strawbridge & Clothier store at Exton Square Mall. The company also revolutionized retailing with their introduction of revolving charge account cards."
"Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom, operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The flagship store on London's Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the UK (after Harrods) and opened 15 March 1909. Other Selfridges stores opened in the Trafford Centre (1998) and Exchange Square (2002) in Manchester, and in the Bullring in Birmingham (2003). In the 1940s, smaller provincial Selfridge stores were sold to the John Lewis Partnership, and in 1951, the original Oxford Street store was"
"of companies that included BhS, Mothercare and Heal's but in 1990 he lost control of the company. His later retail companies include the Conran Shop and FSC-certified (Forest Stewardship Council) wood furniture maker Benchmark Furniture, which he co-founded with Sean Sutcliffe in 1983. He has also been involved in architecture and interior design, including establishing the architecture and planning consultancy Conran Roche with Fred Roche in 1980. Projects include Michelin House (which he turned into the restaurant Bibendum) and the Bluebird Garage, both in Chelsea. Conran had a major role in the regeneration in the early 1990s of the Shad"
"consumers and in particular, Sears, who offered to deliver any item countrywide. Terrance Conran's Habitat, founded in 1964, came about to service a growing number of affluent consumers, intent on purchasing a cost-efficient interior presented in ready-to-made rooms. The first ""Habitat"" catalogue in 1966 was marketed as a guide to decorating a home and not just a telling tool. Swedish company IKEA created the same room-set device to document its tens of thousands of products and in the process dominated the global market in the late 20th century. Founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, the catalogue was first produced in"
"with extension to the Cabinet War Rooms about a mile away. In 1926, Selfridges set up the Selfridge Provincial Stores company, which had expanded over the years to include sixteen provincial stores, but these were sold to the John Lewis Partnership in 1940. The Liverpool-based Lewis's chain of department stores acquired the remaining Oxford Street Shop in 1951, until it was taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group, owned by Charles Clore. Under the Sears group, branches in Ilford and Oxford opened, with the latter remaining Selfridges until 1986, when Sears rebranded it as a Lewis's store. In 1990,"
"Chelsea porcelain factory Chelsea porcelain is the porcelain made by the Chelsea porcelain manufactory, the first important porcelain manufactory in England, established around 1743–45, and operating independently until 1770, when it was merged with Derby porcelain. It made soft-paste porcelain throughout its history, though there were several changes in the ""body"" material and glaze used. Its wares were aimed at a luxury market, and its site in Chelsea, London, was close to the fashionable Ranelagh Gardens pleasure ground, opened in 1742. The first known wares are the ""goat and bee"" cream jugs with seated goats at the base, some examples"
"It contains greenhouses covering some 18,000 square feet, manufactured by Agra Tech, Inc and two ponds which are used to grow bibb lettuce.[2] Conair sells products in over 100 countries and has offices and subsidiaries in over 12 countries including Babyliss SARL in Paris, France. Conair Corporation Conair Corporation is an American company which sells small appliances, personal care products, and health and beauty products for both professionals and consumers. It was founded in 1959 and has since expanded to include ten product divisions. Founded in 1959 in a garage in Queens, New York, Conair started out by selling hair"
"longer to become established. Even in 1947, there were just ten self-service shops in the country. In 1951, ex-US Navy sailor Patrick Galvani, son-in-law of Express Dairies chairman, made a pitch to the board to open a chain of supermarkets across the country. The UK's first supermarket under the new Premier Supermarkets brand opened in Streatham, South London, taking ten times as much per week as the average British general store of the time. Other chains caught on, and after Galvani lost out to Tesco's Jack Cohen in 1960 to buy the 212 Irwin's chain, the sector underwent a large"
"Easter, great crowds would assemble on the open spaces of the Five Fields – subsequently developed as Belgravia. The Bun House would then do a great trade in hot cross buns and sold about quarter of a million on its final Good Friday in 1839. The area was also famous for its ""Chelsea China"" ware, though the works, the Chelsea porcelain factory – thought to be the first workshop to make porcelain in England – were sold in 1769, and moved to Derby. Examples of the original Chelsea ware fetch high values. The best-known building is Chelsea Royal Hospital for"