International Stores

[Carol Anne]

Does anyone remember this UK grocery chain from the 1970s?

[Tatty Rollox]

....... and here is an International Store (they date back a very long way before 1970) ......

[Carol Anne]

How on earth did you find that!? Any idea where further research information might be found?

[Big A.T]

We had one in our local town -seemed to be short lived as far as I remember.

I tried to look this up before along with Mac Market as I am interested in nostalgia. Couldn't find much though

Are you just curious or are you doing a project?

[Tatty Rollox]

..... it was MacFisheries ................

[Carol Anne]

Daughter is AT, but I love nostalgia myself

[Buenchico]

International Stores started out, in 1875, with a single store in Bristol, trading as J H Mills.

By 1900, when J H Mills become a limited company, there were 12 stores and the name 'International Stores' was in use.

In 1950, J H Mills changed its name to Gateway. From then the name 'Gateway' was mainly used for all of the company's new (supermarket-style) stores but 'International Stores' was retained for the traditional-style stores.

Gateway was taken over by Linfood Holdings in 1977 but International Stores were not, initially part of the deal (although many branches of International Stores closed at this time, or were re-branded as Gateway as a subsidiary part of the deal).

Linfood Holdings changed its name to the Dee Corporation in 1983 and then proceeded to acquire International Stores (along with other well-known names, such as Fine Fare and Keymarkets). All of the stores were then either closed or re-branded as Gateway. (The Dee Corporation changed its name back to Gateway Corporation plc, to match the store names, in 1988).

Between 1989 and 1991, over 100 stores were sold off to Asda and Kwik Save.

The firm opened the first Somerfield store in 1990. in 1994, Gateway Foodmarkets became Somerfield Stores.

Thus, if there's still a supermarket trading on a former International Stores site, there's a very good chance that it will bear the Somerfield brand name (although it could be Asda or Kwik Save) and, incidentally, be part of a multi-national group that includes the Carrefour chain in France.

Primary Source:
http://www.somerfield.plc.uk/download/history/historyofs omerfield.pdf
Also:
http://www.somerfield.plc.uk/index.asp?sid=17

[Buenchico]

and
http://www.fooddeserts.org/images/suptime.htm

Chris

[Carol Anne]

Cheers for that Chris, I love these historical facts about the brand names we take for granted today.

Why did AB edit you??

[woofgang]

anyone remember Jolly's and the Home and Colonial?

Jolly's was what we would call a deli today, kind of, it only sold cooked and preserved meat and cheeses, I think with the kinds of pickles and sauces that you would use with them

[gary baldy]

My mum used to work in Fine Fare - do you remember them?
I think they turned into Spar.

[Grunty]

As well as International, we had Home & Colonial and Liptons. There was always a chair by the counter where the customer would sit while she announced her requirements one item at a time. The assistant would go and bring each item before listening to the next. Men wouldn't be seen in a shop then. My mother would go into the nearest town on a Thursday and hand in a list, which 'Granville' would bring on his bike on Friday. It was cheaper to walk the 4 miles into town than to spend an old penny either on the bus or the telephone (which was a mile away anyway). There was one large shop, the Co-op, which was about the size of the smallest supermarkets now. The assistant would take the money and put it in a container which travelled to the cash desk by an aerial ropeway. The change would arrive the same way moments later.

[Tatty Rollox]

..... and here is a Home and Colonial, and here is a Lipton's, and here is a wire line money carrier ........

[Tatty Rollox]

..... I'm sorry, woofgang, but I myself have absolutely no recollection of a deli from the old day's called Jolly's, so hope this will do instead (it looks a bit of a mix for a bakery and deli !!) .......

[brew2]

They used to advertise a lot on Capital Radio in the mid-70s. The jingle went "nice people, with nice prices, International".

Their shop in King Street, Hammersmith is now used by the local council as an advice place.

[Big A.T]

There was a MacMarket - it was a spin off from MacFisheries. I can prove it as well

[waimarie]

Those beautiful hanging glass globes in your 'Home & Colonial' photograph (Tatty Rollox) would have our local yobbos drooling at the mouth!!! Can you imagine them lasting overnight in this day and age?

[Tatty Rollox]

They wouldn't last five minutes around here either, marie. And neither would the fascia's, which were of glass with black backgrounds and gold lettering. Sorry about the MacMarket, A.T., I didn't mean to imply that they did not exist, It is only that I have no memory of them. Anyone remember the old Woolworth 3d and 6d and Walls Stop Me and Buy One ?

[shaneystar2]

I can remember David Grieg and Maypole grocery shops.We also had a local shop called Busseys where you could buy all stuff loose.Eg sugar,dried fruit ,biscuits,flour and most dried goods. It was all lined up in containers at the front of the counter.The local butcher used to deliver and my Mum used to pay at the end of the week.The greengrocer used to deliver as well.Nothing was prepacked and I used to love watching the grocer slice a bit of cheese off a big block with his cheesewire.
They used to sell these things called bathchaps,which were pigs cheeks that had been cooked and breadcrumbed.Milk used to come in big old pint bottles with a cardboard lid.And I used to go and get my Dad twenty Players Navy Cut cigarettes and nobody turned a hair at a child asking for ciggies.!
I also used to go to the Jug and Bottle and get beer from a barrel poured into a jug to take home ,whereupon my Dad would put the hot poker from the fire into the beer and then drink it. I never knew why he did this !

[jno]

shaney that seems to combine the British love of DIY with the British love of warm beer.

[Golem]

I remember helping my mother do the weekly shop at our local International Stores in Sawbridgeworth, Herts. One of my jobs was to collect the Green Shield Stamps they gave out and I'd spend ages sticking them in the books. Can't ever recall what we actually got with our savings; but mum did eventually become a cashier at the stores!

And this site might help bring back some memories;

http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/