Sears plc was a large British-based conglomerate. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Charles Clore in the 1950s who expanded the company to be one of the largest retailers in Britain. It was acquired by Philip Green in 1999 who oversaw the break up of the group.

The business was founded by John and William Sears in 1891 and initially traded as bootmakers under the name of Trueform.^[1] Despite the company using the Sears name, it has no relations with Chicago, Illinois-based Sears Roebuck and Company and its 2005-2019 parent company, Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears Holdings Corporation.

Sears acquired Freeman, Hardy and Willis in 1929.^[2] The business was acquired by Charles Clore in 1953 for £4 million, by which time it had over 900 shops.^[1][3] In 1954, Sears bought Haverton Holdings for £3.5 million, which owned Furness Shipbuilding Company and a controlling interest in listed hosiery knitting machine manufacturer, Bentley Engineering, in which Clore was a board member.^[3][4] He renamed the group Sears Holdings in 1955 and went on to buy the Manfield and Dolcis shoe shop chains the following year, bringing the total number of shops up to almost 1,500.^[1][3]

In the late 1950s Clore consolidated all the shoe brands Sears had acquired under the name British Shoe Corporation^[1] under which name it also bought the recently merged Saxone Lilley & Skinner, another shoe shop chain with over 500 shops, in 1962.^[5][3] In June 1959, the group acquired the remainder of the Scottish Motor Traction Company for £1.7 million. In August 1959, after already acquiring a controlling interest, they increased their ownership in Mappin & Webb jewellers to 98% for £3 milion. In October 1959, Mappin & Webb bought Garrard & Co, the Crown Jeweller, for almost £1 million.^[6] The same year, the group also tried to acquire brewer Watney Mann for £20 million.^[3] By the year end, the group divided itself into four sub-divisions (British Shoe Corporation; Engineering; Motor distribution and Mappin and Webb).^[6]

In 1964, the group acquired US linen hire and industrial laundry, Consolidated Industries, which it renamed Sears Industries. Sears Industries later acquired US knitwear manufacturer, Highlander.^[3]

Sears decided to invest in department stores in 1965 acquiring Lewis's Investment Trust which itself controlled Selfridges for £63 million.^[1][3] In 1966, Selfridges launched the Miss Selfridge department, which subsequently expanded to a store chain in its own right.^[7]

Following large losses, in October 1968, Clore sold the Furness Shipbuilding yard to the Swan Hunter group for £2.5 million, retaining a small shareholding in Swan Hunter.^[8][3]

The company diversified again in 1971, buying William Hill, a chain of bookmakers. They fully acquired Mappin & Webb in 1973.^[1][9] They later acquired 20% of Asprey & Co.^[10][11]

In 1973, a financial services arm of Selfridges was created which eventually became SearsCard, with its primary function to provide store card facilities for retail companies within the Sears Group.

In January 1975, the group acquired Galliford Estates and the group was made up of the following divisions: Footwear retailers and manufacturers (British Shoe Corporation, now also including Curtess); Departmental stores (Selfridges, Miss Selfridge, Lewis's and Robinson & Cleaver); Engineering; Motor vehicle sales and service (SMT Sales and Service, Ritchies, Shaw & Kilburn, Gilbert Rice); Jewellery retailers (Mappin & Webb, Garrard & Co, Arthur Conley & Son) and miscellaneous (Liverpool bakers S Reece & Sons); Licensed betting offices (William Hill); Linen hire and industrial laundries (Sears Industries) and knitwear manufacture (Highlander). The group also had a 20-30% interest in the Freemans mail order business and a 6% interest in Swan Hunter.^[12]

Clore retired as chairman in 1976 and was replaced by solicitor Leonard Sainer.^[3]

Sears bought Olympus Sports in 1978; clothing retailer Wallis in 1980; and US-based Butler Shoe Corporation in 1981. They sold Sears Industries in January 1982.^[11]

In 1982, jewellers Conley were renamed Walker & Hall and in 1983, Sears acquired a 20% interest in Central Independent Television.^[11] By 1985, Sears was Britain's largest shoe retailer.^[13] Foster Brothers Clothing, which owned Adams Childrenswear and Millets, were acquired in 1985.^[14][3] The same year the company was renamed Sears plc when it had the following brands: Fosters; Wallis; Selfridges; William Hill; Olympus Sports; Saxone; Garrard; Roland Cartier; Mappin & Webb; SMT; Adams; Shaw & Kilburn; Freeman Hardy Willis; Dolcis; Gilbert Rice; Miss Erika; Miss Selfridge; Butler; Galliford; Trueform; Lilley & Skinner; Manfield; Lewis's; Curtess; and Millets.^[10]

In April 1986, it supported a management buyout of Mallett Antiques, investing £6 million for a 50% stake but reducing it to 26% by the listing of the company in March 1987.^[15] In 1986 it acquired Blacks Leisure Group for £3.3 million^[16] but the transaction did not complete.^{[citation needed]} In 1986 and 1987, the group restructured and closed or disposed the remaining engineering businesses and sold off the motor group to Lex Services for £86 million.^[15] It also sold the investment in Central Independent Television in 1986.^[15] In July 1987, menswear retailer Horne Brothers was acquired for £34 million.^[17]

In 1988 Freemans was fully acquired by Sears for £480 million,^[17] turning it into one of the country's largest retail organisations. It also meant that Freemans could now easily source and stock popular high street brands and promote them in its catalogue.^[3] The Lewis's department store business and Butler Shoe Corporation was sold the same year, although the company retained ownership of the Lewis stores in Glasgow and Hanley.^[3][17] In December 1988, the group disposed of William Hill for £331 million and in 1989 the investment in Mallett Antiques was disposed.^[18] They announced in October 1989 a withdrawal from housebuilding and they also started to dispose of some of the group's property interests.^[19]

In June 1990, they acquired Astral Sports & Leisure from House of Fraser for £9 million and renamed most stores as Olympus Sports, which by then was the largest sports clothing and footwear retailer in the UK. In July 1990, Sears sold Mappin & Webb and Garrard to Asprey plc in exchange for an increased stake in Asprey, giving them a 38.5% interest in the expanded group.^[19]

In May 1992, the group decided to remove themselves from menswear retail sector and sold Fosters in September 1992.^[20] It acquired Richard Shops in October 1992.^[21] In April 1993, it finally left the housebuilding sector with the sale of Galliford.^[20]

As at April 1995, the company was FTSE 100 listed. In August 1995, it sold Freeman Hardy Willis, Manfield and True Form to entrepreneur Stephen Hinchliffe and his business Facia,^[22] and in October 1995, sold Olympus Sports.^[23] By 1996, the group had the following divisions: Footwear (Shoe Express, Shoe City, Saxone, Dolcis, Curtess, Roland Cartier, Cable & Co, Hush Puppies, Lilley & Skinner); Home Shopping (Freemans); Selfridges; Sears Clothing (Richards, Wallis, Warehouse, Miss Selfridge, Adams Childrenswear, The Outfit); Sears Group Properties (including The Selfridges Hotel, Part ownership of The St. Enoch Shopping Centre in Glasgow, 3,000 retail shops being mostly leasehold with a few freehold jewels such as 190 Oxford Street and 330 Oxford Street known as the Top Shop flagship store.^{[citation needed]}); SearsCard and Sears Retail Services.^[23]

In February 1996 the group also sold Saxone and Curtess to Facia.^[24][22] Millets was sold in March 1996, ending the Sports & Leisure division.^[23] The remaining parts of British Shoe Corporation were sold by 1998, at an accounting loss of £150 million.^[25] Selfridges was demerged in July 1998.^[26]

Sears plc was acquired by January Investments on behalf of Philip Green in January 1999 for £548 million.^[27] The company delisted from the London Stock Exchange in March 1999 and re-registred as a private company (Sears Limited) on 12 April 1999.^[26] Following the sale, Freemans plc and Creation Financial Services (formerly SearsCard) were sold off, leaving the group with Sears Clothing and Sears Properties.^[26]

The womenswear business (comprising Warehouse, Richards, Wallis, Outfit and Miss Selfridge) was subsequently transferred to Arcadia Group for £151 million.^[28] Philip Green later purchased the Arcadia Group, regaining control of Wallis and Miss Selfridge alongside Arcadia's other brands (Arcadia having closed Richards, and sold Warehouse to Rubicon Retail).

Sears Group Properties, a wholly owned subsidiary, was sold to the owner of department store Owen Owen, and continues to operate as an outsourced property solution for other fashion brands.^{[citation needed]}

SPDL (Sears Property Developments Limited), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears plc, was swallowed up by January Investments but the retail park development properties asset strip generated around £50 million. These included Parc Fforestfach (A483 Pontardulais Road, Swansea) and Westway Cross Retail Park (Greenford). The Sears Property Developments Limited team of four contributed in excess of £10 million per annum in profits between 1995 and 1999 and was Sears "secret weapon." The Times's unfavourable commentary regarding SPDL's property development pipeline (stating it was involved in risky developments) arguably led to Sears plc becoming a bid target.^{[citation needed]}

• True Form (1891-1995)
• Freeman Hardy Willis (1929-1995)
• Dolcis (1956-1997)
• Manfield (1956-1995)
• Saxone (1962-1996)
• Lilley & Skinner (1962-?)
• Curtess (-1996)
• Butler Shoe Corporation (1981-1988)
• Shoe City (-1997)
• Shoe Express (-1997)
• Roland Cartier
• Cable & Co (-1997)
• Hush Puppies (-1996)

• Robinson & Cleaver (1956-
• Lewis's (1965-1988)
• Selfridges (1965-1998)
• Miss Selfridge (1966-1999)

• Wallis (1980-1999)
• Miss Erika
• Foster Brothers Clothing (1985-1992)
• Adams Childrenwear (1985-?)
• Outfit (-1999)
• Warehouse (-1999)
• Horne Brothers (1987-?)
• Richards (1992-1999)

• Olympus Sports (1978-1995)
• Millets (1985-1996)

• Furness Shipbuilding (1954-1968)
• Bentley Engineering (1954-?)

• SMT Sales and Service (1959-1987)
• Ritchies (-1987)
• Shaw & Kilburn (-1987)
• Gilbert Rice (-1987)

• Mappin & Webb (1959-1990)
• Garrard & Co (1959-1990)
• Arthur Conley & Son (later renamed Walker and Hall)
• S Reece & Sons

• William Hill (1971-1988)

• Consolidated Industries (renamed Sears Industries) (1964-1982)
• Highlander

• Galliford (1975-1993)

• Freemans (1988-1999)

• SearsCard (1973-1999)

Adams Childrenswear - trading as 'Adams Kids' - remained on the high street until 2010, after some difficulties over the years, and collapsed into administration twice in the late 2000s;^[29] former Stead & Simpson chairman John Shannon purchased a portion of the chain's outlets and the Adams brand,^[30] before the company fell into administration for a third time in 2010.^[31] The brand survives as an online business.^[32]

Selfridges is owned by Selfridges Group (itself owned 50% by Thai Central Group & Austrian Signa Holdings) it has expanded out of London with branches in Manchester & Birmingham.

Richard Shops were closed down by Arcadia Group shortly after the firm took the chain over from Sears. Miss Selfridge and Wallis remain part of Arcadia, and the firm has also continued to develop and evolve the Outfit out-of-town fashion store format initially developed by Sears. Arcadia sold Warehouse as part of the deal which created Rubicon Retail in 2002. Subsequently, Rubicon merged with Mosaic Fashions, and following the collapse of Mosaic, Warehouse is in the hands of Aurora Fashions, which took on many of Mosaic's brands.^{[citation needed]}