Peter Jones, Sloane Square
Peter Jones has been the favourite 'corner shop' for Chelsea residents for over 100 years but its origins were a few minutes' walk away from Sloane Square.
In 1864 a young Welshman, Peter Jones (1843-1905), arrived in London and lost no time getting himself a job at Tarn's, a draper's in Newington, moving after a while to a larger shop in Leicester Square. Not long after, he opened his first shop in Hackney and, by 1871, he had moved twice more, first to Southampton Row and then to Chelsea, where he took a lease on two small shops in what is now Draycott Avenue.
He knocked the two shops into one and put in a new front before launching into business as a 'co-operative' draper. Less than a year later, disaster struck. The weakened party wall collapsed, the new front beam broke and the houses fell down.
It was rumoured that Peter Jones got substantial compensation from the landlord. Whether that is true or not, he was soon planning a bold expansion. In 1877 he moved again, this time to two small shops in the more exclusive part of Chelsea, at the Sloane Square end of the King's Road.
In 1903 Peter Jones fell ill and died two years later at the age of sixty-two. Without him at the helm the shop had begun to falter, and shortly after his death in 1905, another self-made man, John Lewis, proprietor of the John Lewis department store in Oxford Street, bought Peter Jones' share of the business for just £22,500.
John Lewis (1836-1928) became the Chairman and made his son, Spedan, a director.
Where John Lewis had succeeded so brilliantly with his Oxford Street shop, he failed with Peter Jones. One of his first acts was to cut the advertising expenditure from £2000 to nil and the business slumped by £20,000. By 1909, turnover had dropped below £95,000 and the ordinary shareholders were not pleased. Finally, in 1914, now aged seventy-eight and tired of failure, John Lewis handed the enterprise over to his son, Spedan.
Spedan Lewis (1885-1963) was a revolutionary thinker. He believed that the rewards from a business should be shared with those who created them and that workers were entitled to have a say in and be kept informed about the business in which they worked.
The design met the needs both of aesthetics and practicality. The architects achieved a continuous run of glass on the ground floor, thus optimising the window display space - a point upon which Spedan Lewis was most insistent - and inside, the shop was light, airy and open plan in complete contrast to the old premises.
Despite the physical changes, Peter Jones retained its ethos of service, quality products and value for money, and the residents of Chelsea continued to flock to its doors.
The shop survived the war and, as the economy started to recover, business once again flourished. 1963 was a milestone year when, for the first time, turnover reached £5 million.
The year 2000 saw the beginning of major changes. The Partnership put aside over £100 million on a complete renovation, which began in February 1999. The intention was to retain the shop's distinctive character but to provide all the facilities which would characterise the Partnership's newest department stores.
The refurbishment would increase the space by about 21%; add new services, including air conditioning; rationalise the geography of the upper floors; reposition the escalators in a dramatic central atrium and provide new restaurants on the second and sixth floors.
Two years later, on 28 June 2004, after five years and £107 million, the renovation of Peter Jones was finally completed, with the return of the Furniture department to the Fifth floor. The renewed Peter Jones was officially opened by the then Chairman Sir Stuart Hampson, in time for the centenary of the shop's acquisition by John Lewis in 1905.
Taken from www.johnlewis.com
Peter Jones, Sloane Square
Peter Jones has been the favourite 'corner shop' for Chelsea residents for over 100 years but its origins were a few minutes' walk away from Sloane Square.
In 1864 a young Welshman, Peter Jones (1843-1905), arrived in London and lost no time getting himself a job at Tarn's, a draper's in Newington, moving after a while to a larger shop in Leicester Square. Not long after, he opened his first shop in Hackney and, by 1871, he had moved twice more, first to Southampton Row and then to Chelsea, where he took a lease on two small shops in what is now Draycott Avenue.
He knocked the two shops into one and put in a new front before launching into business as a 'co-operative' draper. Less than a year later, disaster struck. The weakened party wall collapsed, the new front beam broke and the houses fell down.
It was rumoured that Peter Jones got substantial compensation from the landlord. Whether that is true or not, he was soon planning a bold expansion. In 1877 he moved again, this time to two small shops in the more exclusive part of Chelsea, at the Sloane Square end of the King's Road.
In 1903 Peter Jones fell ill and died two years later at the age of sixty-two. Without him at the helm the shop had begun to falter, and shortly after his death in 1905, another self-made man, John Lewis, proprietor of the John Lewis department store in Oxford Street, bought Peter Jones' share of the business for just £22,500.
John Lewis (1836-1928) became the Chairman and made his son, Spedan, a director.
Where John Lewis had succeeded so brilliantly with his Oxford Street shop, he failed with Peter Jones. One of his first acts was to cut the advertising expenditure from £2000 to nil and the business slumped by £20,000. By 1909, turnover had dropped below £95,000 and the ordinary shareholders were not pleased. Finally, in 1914, now aged seventy-eight and tired of failure, John Lewis handed the enterprise over to his son, Spedan.
Spedan Lewis (1885-1963) was a revolutionary thinker. He believed that the rewards from a business should be shared with those who created them and that workers were entitled to have a say in and be kept informed about the business in which they worked.
The design met the needs both of aesthetics and practicality. The architects achieved a continuous run of glass on the ground floor, thus optimising the window display space - a point upon which Spedan Lewis was most insistent - and inside, the shop was light, airy and open plan in complete contrast to the old premises.
Despite the physical changes, Peter Jones retained its ethos of service, quality products and value for money, and the residents of Chelsea continued to flock to its doors.
The shop survived the war and, as the economy started to recover, business once again flourished. 1963 was a milestone year when, for the first time, turnover reached £5 million.
The year 2000 saw the beginning of major changes. The Partnership put aside over £100 million on a complete renovation, which began in February 1999. The intention was to retain the shop's distinctive character but to provide all the facilities which would characterise the Partnership's newest department stores.
The refurbishment would increase the space by about 21%; add new services, including air conditioning; rationalise the geography of the upper floors; reposition the escalators in a dramatic central atrium and provide new restaurants on the second and sixth floors.
Two years later, on 28 June 2004, after five years and £107 million, the renovation of Peter Jones was finally completed, with the return of the Furniture department to the Fifth floor. The renewed Peter Jones was officially opened by the then Chairman Sir Stuart Hampson, in time for the centenary of the shop's acquisition by John Lewis in 1905.
Taken from www.johnlewis.com