History
Founded in 1904 by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor, Waitrose & Partners began as a small grocery, Waite, Rose & Taylor, in Acton, West London.[13] In 1908, two years after David Taylor had left the business, the name "Waitrose", from the remaining founders' names, was adopted.[14] In 1937, the company, consisting of ten shops and 160 employees, was taken over by the John Lewis Partnership.[13] In 1944, the partnership purchased the South Essex grocery business Schofield and Martin, which had 12 shops in its chain.[15]
In 1955, the chain opened its first Waitrose supermarket in Streatham, London, and continued to expand throughout London and the South East of England during the 1960s. In the 1970s, Waitrose opened branches in Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Essex and Cambridgeshire. In 2013, the chain's most northerly branch opened in Stirling, Scotland, and on 16 June 2016 the most southerly branch opened in Truro, Cornwall.[16]
In the early 21st century, Waitrose continued its expansion, which included purchasing shops from Somerfield,[17] Morrisons[18] and Woolworths.[19]
In 2009 the firm signed a deal with Alliance Boots which allowed Boots to operate branded pharmacies in Waitrose shops and Boots shops to sell Waitrose food products.[20] The partnership between the companies ended in 2012 having been deemed unsuccessful, which led to Boots replacing Waitrose products with items from Irish retailer Musgrave's SuperValu chain.[21]
Profitability issues at the end of the decade resulted in John Lewis announcing the closure of five Waitrose shops in 2018 and the sale of a further five Waitrose shops to other retailers in 2019.[22]
