GUS (retailer)

GUS plc
IndustryRetail
Founded1900 as Universal Stores
Defunct10 October 2006
FateDemerged
Successors
HeadquartersLondon, England
Key people
Isaac Wolfson,
Leonard Wolfson,
David Wolfson,
Victor Barnett,
Sir Victor Blank (Chairman),
John Peace
ProductsMail order
Clothing
Footwear
Furniture
RevenueIncrease £7,262 million (2006)[1]
Increase £654 million (2006)[1]
Decrease £595 million (2006)[1]
Subsidiaries

GUS plc was a FTSE 100 retailing, manufacturing and financial conglomerate based in the United Kingdom. GUS was an abbreviation of Great Universal Stores, the company's name before 2001, while it was also known as the Glorious Gussies amongst stockbrokers.[2] The company started out as Universal Stores, a mail order business created by the Rose family.[3] In 1931, Isaac Wolfson joined the mail order company and would, through a series of takeovers, turn it into a retail, manufacturing and financial conglomerate,[4][5] becoming Europe's biggest mail order firm[6] and with over 2,700 physical stores.[5] His son, Leonard Wolfson, followed him as chairman, to be succeeded by his nephews David Wolfson (1996–2000)[7] and Victor Barnett (2000–2002).[8] During the 1980s, the business divested much of its physical retail and manufacturing subsidiaries under Leonard Wolfson to concentrate on mail order, property and finance.[9][10][11][12] In 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.

  1. ^ a b c "Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2006". GUS plc. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  2. ^ "Why shopping empire has been lured south to 'Golden Triangle'". Sky News. 12 April 2018.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc83 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Aris was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b "Everyone in Britain Buys From Him". The Sentinel. 12 March 1964. pp. 10, 11, 40.
  6. ^ "PHILANTHROPIST ISAAC WOLFSON DIES AT AGE 93". Washington Post. 23 June 1991.
  7. ^ Wolfson of Sunningdale. Who's Who. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U40467. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths HYMAN, EDITH WOLFSON BARNETT". The New York Times. 17 January 1997.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference magiccarpet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Steve Baron, Peter Jones, ed. (1991). Macmillan Dictionary of Retailing. p. 231.
  11. ^ "The big break-up". The Manchester Evening News. 15 February 2007.
  12. ^ Adeney, Martin (17 June 2010). "Lord Wolfson obituary". The Guardian.