Army & Navy Stores (United Kingdom)

Army & Navy Stores was a department store group in the United Kingdom, which originated as a co-operative society for military officers in the nineteenth century. The society became a limited company in the 1930s and purchased a number of independent stores during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1976 the Army and Navy Stores group was acquired by House of Fraser. From 2005 onwards the remaining Army & Navy stores (the flagship store located on Victoria Street in London and the three others in Maidstone, Camberley, and Chichester) were refurbished and re-branded as House of Fraser stores. House of Fraser itself was acquired by Icelandic investment company, Baugur Group, in late 2006.

The Victoria Street department store now trades as House of Fraser Victoria. Situated within the City of Westminster, to the south of St. James's Park, it is the only department store to trade in the locality. Each of its four selling-floors holds a broad range of merchandise including clothing, accessories and cosmetics, furnishing, household and electrical goods. 'World of Food', a new food hall concept in House of Fraser stores (introduced at Birmingham in 2003), was opened on the Ground Floor to coincide with the store's relaunch under the 'House of Fraser' name.

The Army & Navy Co-operative Society Ltd was incorporated on 15 September 1871, being formed a group of army and navy officers. The aim of the co-operative was to supply goods to its members at the lowest remunerative rates, and was based on two earlier models - the Civil Service Supply Association & the Civil Service Co-operative Society. The society leased part of a distillery premises in Victoria Street, London which was owned by Vickers & Co, and by February 1872 the store was opened for the sale of groceries. By 1873, the store offered stationery, a drapery, fancy goods, tailoring, groceries, a chemist and even a gun department. The store was too small for the business so they rented a house next to their warehouse and acquired a further warehouse in Johnson Place.

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