Great Universal Stores

GUS plc

Industry	Conglomerate
Fate	Split-up/Sold Off Part merged with Littlewoods
Successor	Home Retail Group/ Littlewoods Shop Direct Group
Founded	1900 as Universal Stores
Defunct	October 10, 2006
Headquarters	London, England
Key people	Sir Victor Blank (Chairman), Terry Duddy (ARG Chief Exec)
Products	Mail order/Conglomerate
Number of employees	54,926
Subsidiaries	Home Retail Group Experian
Website	www.gusplc.com

GUS plc was a FTSE 100 retailing group based in the United Kingdom. GUS is an abbreviation of Great Universal Stores, the company's name before 2001. On 10 October 2006, the company was split into two separate companies: Experian which continues to exist, and Home Retail Group which was bought by Sainsbury's in 2016.

Universal Stores was founded in 1900 as a mail order business in Manchester, England by Abraham, George and Jack Rose. A private company, The Universal Stores (Manchester) Ltd, took the business over, and the company was incorporated in 1917. In 1930, the company changed its name to The Great Universal Stores Limited. The next year it was listed on the . At this stage, it was the leading mail order business in the UK, with a single catalogue, Great Universal. A second catalogue, John England, was launched later in the 1930s.

In 1932, Isaac Wolfson joined the company as merchandise controller. He became joint managing director in the same year. He was Chairman from the late 1940s until his retirement in 1987. Through his wealth gained at Great Universal Stores, he established the Wolfson Foundation in 1955. His son, Leonard Wolfson, followed him as Chairman, to be succeeded by David Wolfson (1996–2000).

Great Universal acquired Kay & Company Ltd in 1937, and continued to run its catalogue, Kays, as a separate title. Based in Worcester, Kay & Company began life in the 1880s and was an established mail order company at the time of the GUS takeover. The company continued as a distinct entity within the GUS holding company.

Two chains of furniture stores were acquired by GUS, one in 1943 and one in 1945. These stores continued to trade under the names Cavendish or Woodhouse. This was followed in 1958 by the acquisition of a paint and wall covering chain of shops, which GUS expanded to form a much larger and more comprehensive chain of DIY stores. GUS also purchased or developed stores selling women's and children's clothing, buying up the Burberry's and Scotch House businesses in 1955. Burberry's also included a clothing manufacturing business. GUS developed its manufacturing businesses in the 1950s, with products including clothing, bedding, upholstery, textiles and pottery.