Image ID: 14414

Sainsbury's Foodstore, High Grounds, Worksop, 2000

High Grounds
Worksop
England

Sainsbury's was founded in 1869 by John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury. They opened their first small dairy shop at 173 Drury Lane, London. Drury Lane was one of London's poorest areas and the Sainsburys' shop quickly became popular for offering high-quality products at low prices. In the late Victorian period competition from large national multiple retailers such as Lipton's posed a serious challenge to small regional chains like Sainsbury's. John James found it necessary to step up his rate of expansion so that he could buy goods as competitively as these companies. Between 1890 and 1900 the number of Sainsbury's branches trebled from 16 to 48. The company expanded into the Midlands in 1936. During World War II, the company's trading area was badly affected by enemy bombing, rationing and evacuation, and after the war the British people suffered even more shortages of food and raw materials during the immediate postwar years which were even more acute than those of wartime. It therefore took both courage and ingenuity for Sainsbury's to become pioneers of a new 'American' style of food retailing. The first self-service Sainsbury's store opened in June 1950 in Croydon. Over the next three decades all Sainsbury's counter service stores were replaced with modern supermarkets. During the 1960s the scale of the company increased rapidly as its trading area expanded, particularly in the Midlands and the West Country. In 1973 the company floated shares on the stock market, becoming a Public Limited Company. During the 1980s and early 1990s expansion into the north-east of England, Scotland, north Wales and Northern Ireland extended the company's trading area to become national in scale. Many of the stores opened during this period were on derelict or run-down sites, bringing much needed regeneration to towns where manufacturing industry had declined. Such sites made it possible for most of Sainsbury's new stores to be located in, or close to, town centres (such as the store seen here). By the end of Sainsbury's 125th year, the company had 355 stores.

Date: 01/01/2000

Organisation Reference: NCCN000815

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