TJ Hughes

Establishment

Thomas John Hughes set up a small shop on Liverpool's London Road after an apprenticeship at fellow drapery firm Owen Owen. The store had a few assistants and Hughes was the main shopkeeper, overseeing everything within the business.

In 1925 Owen Owen saw the need to move out of their Audley House site on London Road into the new centre of Liverpool at Clayton Square.[3] The then chairman of Owen Owen, Duncan Norman, went to see the TJ Hughes shop. Norman was so impressed that he agreed to let Hughes run and expand his business in Audley House for part ownership of the business under Owen Owen.

After 65 years of ownership by the Owen Owen group, TJ Hughes was de-merged in 1990.[4] The initial four locations (Liverpool, Birkenhead, Bootle and St Helens) were shortly joined by two ex Owen Owen stores; Wolverhampton in 1991 and Kidderminster in 1992.

TJ Hughes was floated on the London Stock Exchange in May 1992[3] before being acquired by JJB Sports in March 2002 for £42 million. In November 2003, the company was sold again in a £56 million buyout backed by PPM Capital.[5]

During the 1990s and 2000s, TJ Hughes took over a number of premises formerly occupied by other retailers including Allders (Ipswich, Redditch), C&A (Glasgow, Romford and Hull), House of Fraser (Sheffield and Eastbourne) and Co-operative Group (Warrington, Bradford, Doncaster and Crawley). From 2009, expansion picked up again with the addition of a further seven stores. A number of these openings were in locations left vacant by Woolworths which had collapsed in late 2008.

In March 2011, TJ Hughes was sold to turnaround specialist Endless LLP for an undisclosed sum.[3] Endless bought TJ Hughes from Silverfleet Capital, who had overseen growth of around twenty stores since taking control of the firm in 2003.[6] The sale followed reports that TJ Hughes had been hit by the withdrawal of credit insurance for its suppliers after a battle to secure working capital.

2011 administration

On 27 June 2011, TJ Hughes Limited announced that it intended to go into administration, putting 4,000 jobs at risk. TJ Hughes officially entered administration on Thursday 30 June 2011, with Ernst & Young appointed as administrators.[7] The company launched a closing down sale in a bid to reduce stock levels.[8]

Ernst & Young said it hoped to sell the company as a going concern, saying it was "very much business as usual" but added that it could be difficult to sell all of the stores owing to the previous trading history of TJ Hughes. There were reports of a number of prospective buyers, including Primark.[9]

On 7 July 2011, GA Europe acquired Endless’ secured debt due from TJ Hughes and announced plans to work with administrators Ernst & Young to liquidate stock[10] from the retail chain's 57 stores.[11]

On 22 July, Ernst & Young announced the company's Liverpool distribution centre would close, making 116 employees redundant.[12]

On 1 August, Lewis's Home Retail, a company associated with Speke-based Benross Group, acquired the TJ Hughes brand and website together with the flagship Liverpool store as well as the Eastbourne, Glasgow and Sheffield locations. This was shortly followed by the Newcastle and Widnes stores, bringing the total saved to six.[13][14]

On 4 August, Ernst & Young announced the closure of the first twenty two unsold TJ Hughes stores throughout the United Kingdom.[15] Store closures began on 10 August, with Shrewsbury closing first.[16]

Ernst & Young announced on 20 August that the remainder of the 51 unsold TJ Hughes stores would close their doors by 31 August 2011.

Post-2011

Since emerging from administration of the legacy company in 2011, TJ Hughes has operated a number of different stores. The Company stated in 2015 that it may seek to open as many as 55 stores in total,[17] by 2019 reaching 29, including several in locations formerly occupied by BHS and Toys-R-Us. By early 2020 however, seven stores had closed[18] followed by a further nine in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the years, some closures have related to lease expiry or urban regeneration, with a number closing without replacement in the same town/city (e.g. Widnes), others relocating immediately to nearby premises (e.g. St Helens), and some re-emerging in new premises several years after closure (e.g. Middlesbrough).

Since the beginning of 2023 the number of TJ Hughes stores has returned to growth, with five new branches and re-location of another two, including a move from the company's original London Road home to a new Central Liverpool location.[19]

Current stores

Former stores