Persil Service was the trading name of Persil Services Ltd., which operated concession units within selected Sainsbury's stores in the United Kingdom. The company operated over 70 shops and employed staff who were trained to process photographs, prepare dry cleaning and laundry, cut house keys and to serve customers.
Persil Service was taken over by Timpson Ltd in May 2008 and all stores are now listed as "Timpson Ltd" branches, with gradual refits across the line bringing storefronts into the Timpson style.
History
Persil Service began as a subsidiary of Unilever Ventures, part of Unilever, who hold a licence to use the Persil brand. It was initially trialed within eight Sainsbury's stores in Central London in 2002 and after a successful 12-month pilot scheme was implemented within another 34 stores in 2004. Unilever secured a "multi-million pound"[1] deal with Uberior Equity Ltd. to finance the implementation of the new stores.
The venture was initially run in partnership with Persil (which provided the brand name), Sainsbury's (which provided the floorspace) and Kodak (which provided photo processing equipment).