T J Hughes
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department Store |
| Fate | Administration |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Founder | Thomas J Hughes |
| Headquarters | Liverpool |
|
Number of locations
|
18 (57 at peak) |
| Products | Home furnishing, Menswear, Woman's wear, Fragrance, Electricals, Toys |
| Revenue |
 £266.7 million (2010) |
|
£9.3 million (2010) |
|
| Profit |
£6.8 million (2010) |
| Owner | Lewis's Home Retail Ltd |
|
Number of employees
|
950 (October 2014) |
| Website | www |
TJ Hughes is a British discount department store brand which first emerged in Liverpool in 1925 and had become a national chain with 57 shops by 2011. As of 2016, the business consists of 18 shops located in England and Scotland.
Thomas J Hughes set up a small shop on Liverpool's London Road. The store had a few assistants and Thomas J Hughes was the main shopkeeper, overseeing everything within the business. In 1925 the large department store group Owen Owen saw the need to move out of their Audley House site on London Road into the new centre of Liverpool at Clayton Square. The building was put up unsuccessfully for sale. The then-chairman of Owen Owen, Duncan Norman, went to see the TJ Hughes shop.
Norman was so impressed that he agreed to let Hughes run and expand his business in Audley House for part-ownership of the business under Owen Owen. TJ Hughes then became a department store. The business was expanded by Owen Owen until being sold in the 1980s. Owen Owen later went on to purchase Lewis's, another Liverpool department store. The company floated on the in 1992. It was later acquired by JJB Sports in 2000 for £42 million, before being sold again in a £56 million buyout backed by PPM Capital in 2002. During the 1990s and 2000s TJ Hughes had taken over a number of premises formerly occupied by other retailers including Allders (Ipswich), C&A (Glasgow, Romford and Hull), House of Fraser (Sheffield & Eastbourne) and various Co-operative Group societies (Warrington, Bradford, Doncaster and Crawley).
After several years of static store numbers, expansion picked up again with three new outlets opened during 2009-10 and a further four opened in the first ten months of 2010-11. A number of the openings were in locations left vacant by Woolworths. TJ Hughes refuted press speculation that it was looking to develop a 200-strong chain.
TJ Hughes was sold to Endless LLP, a turnaround specialist, for an undisclosed sum in 2011, the 13th company in Endless' portfolio. Endless bought TJ Hughes from Silverfleet Capital, which had controlled the firm since 2003. The sale followed reports that TJ Hughes had been hit by the withdrawal of credit insurance for its suppliers after a battle to secure working capital. TJ Hughes had grown by around 20 stores since its acquisition by Silverfleet Capital in 2003.
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Wikipedia