British Home Stores | |
Company type | Private |
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1928 Brixton, London |
Defunct | 2016 (stores) |
Fate | Solely Online |
Successor | BHS.com |
Headquarters | Liverpool Street, London, United Kingdom |
Area served | United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Middle East |
Products | |
Owner | Al Mana Group |
Website | bhs |
British Home Stores, commonly abbreviated to BHS and latterly legally styled BHS Ltd, was a British department store chain, primarily selling clothing and household items. In its later years, the company began to expand into furniture, electronics, entertainment, convenience groceries and fragrance and beauty products. BHS traded from 1928 to 2016; the brand was later licenced to an online retailer.
The company was founded in 1928 by a group of U.S. entrepreneurs, and had a total of 163 stores, mainly in high streets or shopping centres, by the time of its closure in 2016,[1] as well as 74 overseas stores in 18 territories.
BHS was previously a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but was bought by Sir Philip Green in 2000 and taken private. The company became part of Green's Arcadia Group in 2009. Following a number of loss-making years, the company was sold to the consortium Retail Acquisitions Ltd, led by the serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell, in March 2015 for the nominal price of £1.[2] In April 2016, 13 months after the purchase by Retail Acquisitions, the company entered administration following unsuccessful attempts to continue trading. It was eventually wound down, and all stores were closed by late August 2016 following failed attempts to find a buyer.[3]