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Further information on other Independent Department Stores from the 1970s Murrays of High Wycombe, Bentalls of Kingston Upon Thames & other branches, Bourne & Hollingsworth - B & H of Oxford Street, London, Bonds of Norwich, David Evans & Co Ltd of Swansea, Jenners of Edinburgh, Ricemans of Canterbury, Randalls of Vine Street Uxbridge and Owen Owen of Liverpool and branches. Murrays White Hart Street, High Wycombe, Bucks Bentalls Kingston Upon Thames & other branches Bourne & Hollingsworth, Oxford Street, London Randalls, Vine Street, Uxbridge High Street Heroes - The story of British Retail in 50 People by John Timpson ____________________________________________________________________
The Wikipedia page above has a very comprehensive list of department stores past and present in the UK, to visit the site click on the image. The department stores featured on this page should be listed and where applicable links to the appropriate Wikipedia page. ____________________________________________________________________ This High Wycombe town centre department store was another family run business. The Rivett family owned it and it was finally closed on the 30th March 1985 More information Here Today there is a very successful branch of John Lewis near the M40 and a branch of the House of Fraser in the Eden Shopping Centre.
Online memories - Fern: My Story By Fern Britton "We would usually go to one of the big department stores. These weren't just huge buildings on the outside, inside the were equally vast. The days of pile-' em-high, sell-' em cheap had not yet arrived and they exuded a real sense of glamour. Suter's in Slough and Murray's in High Wycombe were the ones we went to most often Murray's being both the nearest and my favourite"..... More Here
Back to Suters Limited - A brief History of the company and the people behind it |Return to top of page ____________________________________________________________________ Bentalls were also members of the ISA - Independent Stores Association and were bought by Fenwick in June of 2001 for £70.8 million. Apparently just before Suters was sold in 1978 they had expressed some interest. They had stores in Bracknell, Worthing, Ealing, Kingston Upon Thames and other locations. in 2018 the Fenwick store still trades as Bentalls in Kingston Upon Thames.More information about Fenwick here
Back to Suters Limited - A brief History of the company and the people behind it |Return to top of page Bonds were also members of the ISA - Independent Stores Association and were bought by the John Lewis Partnership in 1982. John Lewis Partnership traded as Bonds until 2001. In the early 1970s whilst Philip Suter was working at Bourne & Hollingsworth there was a member of the Nond family working there as well also training up for working in the family department stores. In the novel by Edward Wilson "The Whitehall Mandarin" the character William Catesby, he was going to Buckingham Palace to collect his OBE and his mother and sister were coming as well. "Catesby's sister took their mother to Bonds in Norwich to buy a dress and hat especially for the event"
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At that time negotiations were nearly completed with Owen Owen, however everything was confidential and so outwardly we had to show that business was normal. Our hosts too were giving the same impression as under a month later, they too had sold out and this was to the House of Fraser as per the cutting from The Daily Telegraph below.
More Information Here from The House of Fraser archives
Back to Suters Limited - A brief History of the company and the people behind it |Return to top of page Jenners were also members of the ISA - Independent Stores Association and were bought by The House of Fraser in 2005 More information Here and Here
Back to Suters Limited - A brief History of the company and the people behind it |Return to top of page More information Here and Here and Here
Ricemans of Canterbury became part of the Fenwick Group in 1986 - More Here
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Liverpool Picturebook's history of Owen Owen Here Sale of Suters Ltd to Owen Owen stores group Here 1978 April to June - The Sale of Suters Here After the sale of Suters to Owen Owen in June 1978 Back to Suters Limited - A brief History of the company and the people behind it |Return to top of page ____________________________________________________________________
The company was a member of the Independent Stores Association - AIS
Anderson & McAuley was located close by at Donegall Place and Castle Street and closed in March 1994. In 2024 the building the building known as McAuley house is home to retailers Clarks and Zara - See also Belfast's Anderson & McAuley: A store full of happy memories @ The Belfast Telegraph 2015
Back to Suters Limited - A brief History of the company and the people behind it |Return to top of page ____________________________________________________________________ Randalls, Vine Street, Uxbridge
The following image does not enlarge
See Suters Uxbridge after 1978 Back to Suters Limited - A brief History of the company and the people behind it |Return to top of page High Street Heroes - The story of British Retail in 50 People by John Timpson The following image does not enlarge
Many names like Mac Fisheries, Radio Rentals, Timothy Whites and Richard Shops that have completely gone are written about in John Timpson's book. It was published in the UK in 2015 by Icon Books and sold by Faber & Faber. Online selling was not included (but mail order was relevant to the book) and my copy came from a "high Street" retailer whose name did appear, Waterstones. The final chapter is John Timpson's top 50 British retail people and a brief synopsis of their careers. Read a review of this book in The Independent Here Back to Suters Limited - A brief History of the company and the people behind it |Return to top of page ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Source of images, unless otherwise stated - Suter family archives |
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See also Associated Independent Stores - AIS
Paper
bag from 1970's era (image does not enlarge)
(This image does not enlarge - source AIS - Associated Independent
Stores meeting - April 1978) David Evans was a member of
the
According
to "Belfast Live" The iconic department store was
first opened back in 1861 by two brothers, Robert and Alexander Anderson,
and went into business with John McAuley. In 1956, the department
store made history as one of the first shops in Northern Ireland to
install escalators and people paid the store a visit just to see and
experience them.
Sir
John Randall demonstrating the Lamson pneumatic
tube system, once used to move cash, receipts and other items around
the store. The store in Vine Street, Uxbridge closed in January 2015
after 123 years in busines. 
Philip Suter says that one of my Christmas
presents given to me by my wife in 2015 was a copy of this book. I
took this with me on holiday to Dubai in January 2016. It is a very
interesting account of retailing and the names that have come and
gone and that are still there on the High Street facias up to 2015.
Written by John Timpson of the Timpson shoe shop and
shoe repair family it is divided up into appropriate chapters for
companies like Marks and Spencer, The John Lewis
Partnership, supermarkets, shoe shops, mail
order, traditional department stores and a very long list of individuals
like Sir Terrance Conran, Sir Charles Clore, Laura
Ashley, Anita Roddick and Philip Green.