Ann Summers
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Private Ltd) |
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| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | London |
| Headquarters | Caterham, Surrey, UK |
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Key people
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David Gold Jacqueline Gold (CEO) Vanessa Gold (MD) |
| Products |
Clothing Sex toys |
| Revenue | £101 million (13-14) |
| Website | www |
Private
Ann Summers is a British multinational retailer company specialising in sex toys and lingerie, with over 140 high street stores in the UK, Ireland, and the Channel Islands. In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the Knickerbox brand, a label with an emphasis on more comfortable and feminine underwear, while the Ann Summers-labelled products tend to be more erotic in style. The chain had an annual turnover of £117.3 million in 2007-2008.
The company was named after Annice Summers, the female secretary of the male founder, Michael Caborn-Waterfield.
Annice Summers, who was born Annice Goodwin in 1941 but took her stepfather’s surname, left the company soon after it opened following a row with Caborn Waterfield. She went to live in Umbria, Italy, two hours from Rome, and died of cancer in October 2012.
In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the underwear brand Knickerbox for an undisclosed sum; in 2014 they announced plans to sell the brand.
The first Ann Summers shop was opened in 1970 in Marble Arch, London, from which it grew to six shops.
Ann Summers was purchased in 1971 by brothers Ralph and David Gold, who turned it from a standard sex shop into an established high street brand and lingerie boutique. In 1981, David Gold installed his daughter Jacqueline Gold (who is the current Chief Executive of Ann Summers) and she introduced the Party Plan concept. The retail operations for all of Ann Summers’ shops are managed from the Head Office in Whyteleafe, Surrey, and as of December 2010 Ann Summers operates 144 retail outlets across the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Spain.
The shops offer lingerie, underwear, cosmetics, swimwear and sex toys. The stores sell 2 million Rampant Rabbits, a kind of vibrator exclusive to Ann Summers, per year.
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Wikipedia