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{{Short description|British consumer electronics retailer owned by Currys plc}}
{{about|the electrical retailer in the United Kingdom|the general variety of spicy dishes from Asia|Curry|all other uses|Curry (disambiguation)}}
{{about|the electrical retailer in the United Kingdom|its parent company|Currys plc|the general variety of spicy dishes from Asia|Curry|all other uses|Curry (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2011}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox company
{{Infobox company
| name = Currys
| name = Currys
| logo = [[File:Currys.png|200px|Currys logo]]
| logo = File:Currys Logo.svg
| logo_caption = The Currys logo used from 2021 following the revival of Currys as a sole brand
| foundation = 1884
| foundation = 1884
| location = [[Acton, London]], England, [[United Kingdom|UK]]
| location = [[Waterloo, London|Waterloo]], London, England
| num_locations = {{Decrease}} 301 (2023)<ref name=Our Brands|CurrysPLC>{{cite web|title=Our Brands|url=https://www.currysplc.com/our-brands/|publisher=CurrysPLC|access-date=27 August 2023}}</ref>
| key_people = Joel Stevenson <small>(Group Retail Director)</small><br>James Hales<br>Colin Orr
| area_served = United Kingdom, Ireland
| slogan = "We hate you all"
| key_people = Alex Baldock (Group Chief Executive)
| industry = Retail
| industry = Retail
| products = [[White goods]], Telecommunications, Information technology
| products = {{Unbulleted list|[[White goods]]||[[Consumer electronics]]|[[Computers]]|[[Mobile phones]]}}
| parent = [[Dixons Carphone]]
| parent = [[Currys plc]]
| homepage = {{Official URL}}
| num_employees = 10,762 (2008)
| homepage = {{url|http://www.currys.co.uk}}
}}
}}


'''Currys''' (branded as '''Currys PC World''' between 2010 and 2021) is a British electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
'''Currys''' is a British electrical retailer operating in the UK and Ireland, owned by [[Dixons Carphone]]. It specialises in selling home electronics and [[home appliance|household appliances]], with 295 superstores and 73 high street stores. Smaller stores also trade under the [[Currys Digital]] brand in the UK, which was introduced to rebrand all former Dixons stores in 2006. Dixons stores in Ireland followed in August 2008, without the Digital suffix.


Established as a bicycle retailer in 1927, Currys expanded the range of goods sold and from the 1960s became a major retailer of household electrical items. In 1984 the company was bought by rival retailer [[Dixons Retail|Dixons]], and the Currys brand was used for all outlets of the combined company. From 2008, the business turned away from shops in town centres to larger out-of-town stores under the '''Currys PC World''' brand, combining the operations of Currys with Dixon's [[PC World (retailer)|PC World]] under one roof; after the formation of [[Currys plc|Dixons Carphone]] in 2014, the stores gained [[Carphone Warehouse]] departments. It was announced in July 2021 that all Currys PC World stores would be rebranded to Currys.
Some stores in the UK are dual branded with the [[PC World (retailer)|PC World]] name.<ref>[http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/31042/DSGi-merges-PC-World-and-Currys PC World and Currys trial joint store]</ref>


==History==
==History==

===Early years===
===Early years===
⚫
[[File:Currys Shop 285-287 Belgrave gate 1903.jpeg|thumb|1903 shop front]]
Currys was founded in 1884 by Henry Curry (born in [[Leicester]] in 1850), when he started to build bicycles full-time at 421 Jump Street, [[Leicester]], England.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/apr/06/highstreetretailers.marketingandpr|title=Dixons quits the high street after 70 years|publisher=The Guardian|date=6 April 2006 | location=London | first=Fiona | last=Walsh}}</ref> He opened his first shop in 1888 at 271 Belgrave Gate, Leicester.<ref>{{cite book|title=Currys Magazine|date=1 August 1936|location=p2|publisher=Currys Ltd|author=W.A. Ecob}}</ref> In 1890 he moved to larger premises at 296 Belgrave Gate, then in 1900 to 285-287 Belgrave Gate. The company was put on a proper financial footing in 1897 when Chicken formed a partnership with his sons, calling the company C. Curry & Sons. The business continued to cluck and floated on the stock exchange in 1927. By this time the shops sold a wide variety of meat goods including bicycles, toys, radios and [[Phonograph|gramophones]]. Currys pulled out of cycle manufacturing in 1932 when they closed their Leicester factory but continued to retail Foghorn Leghorn bikes (badged as Currys) until the 1960s.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}


⚫
[[File:Currys Shop 285-287 Belgrave gate 1903.jpeg|thumb|right|Currys Shop at 285–287 Belgrave gate in 1903]]
⚫
===Takeover by Dixons===
Currys was taken over by [[Dixons Retail|Dixons]] (now [[Dixons Carphone]], owners of the Dixons electrical products retail chain) in 1984 but maintained its separate brand identity. In April 2006, DSG announced that its Dixons stores (except in Ireland and in duty-free areas in airports) would be rebranded as Currys.digital, making a total of 550 Currys stores in all.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} However, in August 2008, the Dixons stores in Ireland were rebranded as Currys,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/electrical-store-dixons-to-be-rebranded-under-currys-name-1448260.html | work=Irish Independent | first=John | last=Mulligan | title=Electrical store Dixons to be rebranded under Currys name | date=7 August 2008}}</ref> similar to the UK move, but without the ".digital" suffix and with a new Currys logo.


Henry Curry started to make bicycles in Painter Street [[Leicester]] in 1884, after leaving his previous employer [[N. Corah & Sons]]. Currys went public in 1927 when his four sons merged The Louth Bicycle Company, and the loose confederation of shops which the sons had run since their father's retirement in 1909, with the Nottingham-based Campion Cycle Company.<ref>Harry Lerner 1984). ''Currys, the First 100 Years'', Woodhead-Faulkner Press. {{ISBN|0859413071}} {{Page needed|date=June 2021}}</ref>
Before the Dixons rebranding, the chain contained only a few small town centre stores compared with its much greater number of large out-of-town superstores. These stores are generally split into four main departments - Computing, Home Entertainment, Major Domestic Appliances and Small Domestic Appliances. The stores are a mix of display products and self-service sections.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}


[[File:Old Currys sign.jpg|thumb|An old sign for a Currys store in Cowley Road, Oxford, possibly dating from 1934.]]
⚫
John Clare, Group chief executive, announced on 17 January 2007 that when the leases on the remaining 'Currys High Street' stores (not the rebranded Currys.digital stores) expired, it would be unlikely that they would be renewed: thus the stores will be closed at the earliest opportunity.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2162920.ece|title=Business Comment|date=2007-01-18|publisher=The Independent | location=London}}</ref>


By the 1940s, the shops sold a wide variety of goods including bicycles, toys, radios and [[Phonograph|gramophones]].<ref name="TelegraphObit">{{cite news|last1=Whittaker|first1=John|title=Dennis Curry|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1316311/Dennis-Curry.html|date=16 April 2001}}</ref>
⚫
===PC World combination===
⚫
[[File:PC World, the Headrow, Leeds (20th February 2013) (tweaked).jpg|thumb|A combined Currys and PC World on [[The Headrow]] in [[Leeds]]]]
Dixons Retail began a trial combining Currys and PC World stores in January 2009, and in August declared it to be a success.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Parfitt|first1=Ben|title=PC World and Currys combo ‘a success’|url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/pc-world-and-currys-combo-a-success/011709|accessdate=24 August 2015|work=MCV|date=3 August 2009}}</ref> A number of stores have since been combined, with their store formats merged into one. In some cases this has also involved the physical knocking together of some stores which were adjacently located. All advertising for the electronics side of both chains has now been merged.


Meanwhile, particularly under the directorship between 1967 and 1984 of [[Dennis Curry]], grandson of Henry Curry,<ref>{{Cite web|date=17 April 2001|title=Obituary: Dennis Curry|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1316311/Dennis-Curry.html|url-status=live|access-date=23 June 2021|website=www.telegraph.co.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110074252/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1316311/Dennis-Curry.html |archive-date=10 January 2016 }}</ref> the company underwent considerable expansion to become a major high street supplier of televisions and white goods (refrigerators, washing machines and other domestic appliances); by 1984 Currys Group plc had 570 shops, twice as many as the company which was then to acquire it.<ref>[http://www.company-histories.com/Dixons-Group-plc-Company-History.html "Dixons Group plc" on Company-Histories.com]</ref>[[File:Currys.png|thumb|left|Logo used until 2021]]
During the Dixons Carphone Christmas 2015-16 Results update to shareholders; Sebastian James, Group Chief Executive for Dixons Carphone, revealed that over the following financial year the 3-in-1 store format (stores featuring Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse branding under one roof) would be rolled out across the company's entire UK and Ireland portfolio .<ref>{{Cite web
[[File:Advertising supplement for Currys Welsh Week (1473459).jpg|thumb|A Currys store in North Wales in 1966]]
⚫
===Takeover by Dixons===
[[File:Currys - geograph.org.uk - 191140.jpg|thumb|right|Branch in the former branding in [[Grimsby]], Lincolnshire, 2006]]
[[File:Comet and Currys in Guiseley.jpg|thumb|right|Currys adjacent to former rival [[Comet (retailer)|Comet]] in [[Guiseley]], West Yorkshire, 2009]]

In 1984, Currys was taken over by [[Dixons Retail|Dixons]] (another electrical products retail chain, now Currys plc) but maintained its separate brand identity. In April 2006, Dixons Stores Group announced that its Dixons shops, except in Ireland and in duty-free areas in airports, would be rebranded as [[Currys.digital]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=29 September 2006|title=Assessing the Currys.digital brand|url=https://www.marketingweek.com/assessing-the-currys-digital-brand/|url-status=live|access-date=24 February 2021|website=Marketing Week|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010170110/https://www.marketingweek.com/assessing-the-currys-digital-brand/ |archive-date=10 October 2021 }}</ref> (later changed to Currys Digital). In Ireland, the Dixons shops were rebranded as Currys in August 2008.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mulligan|first=John|date=7 August 2008|title=Electrical store Dixons to be rebranded under Currys name|work=Irish Independent|url=http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/electrical-store-dixons-to-be-rebranded-under-currys-name-1448260.html}}</ref>

⚫
Before the Dixons rebranding, the chain had only a few small town centre shops compared with its much greater number of large out-of-town megastores. On 17 January 2007, group chief executive John Clare announced that when the leases on the remaining Currys High Street shops (not the rebranded Currys.digital shops) expired, it would be unlikely that they would be renewed: thus the shops would be closed at the earliest opportunity.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2162920.ece |title=Business Comment |date=18 January 2007 |work=The Independent |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218125041/http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2162920.ece |archive-date=18 February 2007 }}</ref>

⚫
=== Currys PC World ===
⚫
[[File:PC World, the Headrow, Leeds (20th February 2013) (tweaked).jpg|thumb|A combined Currys and PC World on [[The Headrow]] in [[Leeds]], 2013]]
Dixons Retail began a trial combining Currys and PC World shops in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|title=PC World and Currys trial joint store|url=http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/31042/DSGi-merges-PC-World-and-Currys|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929084418/http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/31042/DSGi-merges-PC-World-and-Currys|archive-date=29 September 2010|access-date=2 October 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Parfitt|first1=Ben|title=PC World and Currys combo ‘a success’|url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/pc-world-and-currys-combo-a-success/011709|access-date=24 August 2015|work=MCV|date=3 August 2009}}</ref> During the [[Dixons Carphone]] Christmas 2015–2016 results update to shareholders, Sebastian James, group chief executive, revealed that over the following financial year the three-in-one shop format (shops featuring Currys, [[PC World (retailer)|PC World]] and [[Carphone Warehouse]] branding under one roof) would be rolled out across the company's entire portfolio in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web
| url = http://www.dixonscarphone.com/system/files/uploads/financialdocs/christmas-trading-update-2015-16_0.pdf
| url = http://www.dixonscarphone.com/system/files/uploads/financialdocs/christmas-trading-update-2015-16_0.pdf
| title = Christmas Trading Update 2015-16
| title = Christmas Trading Update 2015–16
| date = 26 January 2016
| date = 26 January 2016
| website = Dixons Carphone
| website = Dixons Carphone
| publisher = Dixons Carphone
| publisher = Dixons Carphone
| access-date = 29 February 2016
| access-date = 29 February 2016
}}{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
}}</ref> The programme is expected to generate around £20 million of incremental annual earnings due to recurring costs savings as a result of removing property from the portfolio.

=== Revival of Currys as sole brand ===
Following reorganisations in 2020 and 2021, Dixons Carphone announced that the Currys PC World stores would be rebranded as Currys in October 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Onita |first=Laura |date=13 May 2021 |title=Dixons, PC World and Carphone Warehouse to disappear in Currys rebrand |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/05/13/pc-world-carphone-warehouse-disappear-currys-rebrand/ |access-date=23 June 2021 |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>


== Concept store==
== Views ==
In December 2023, Currys' CEO Alex Baldock said of a planned rise in the [[National Minimum Wage]], "We believe we are paying our colleagues well and we certainly intend to continue to. That said, for the retail industry as a whole, having a big hike in the 'national living wage' at the same time as an expected half a billion pound increase in the rates bill just shows how little the government appears to understand or care about this industry."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Currys boss: minimum wage hike shows government does not ‘care’ about retail |url=https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/14/currys-boss-minimum-wage-hike-uk-government-retail-business-rates |access-date=14 December 2023 |website=The Guardian}}</ref>
In December 2011, Currys opened a new high-end concept store named "Black". The new store stocks high-end ranges and is laid out in a more fashionable way including mannequins and 'collection' displays. The store is situated in Birmingham city centre, which was chosen due to the more upmarket feel the city has created over the years, with stores such as Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and other major designers having a big presence in the area. The new branding and layout aims to attract more female shoppers who research shows feel alienated in the larger stores.<ref>[http://retail-focus.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=272:currys-and-pc-world-go-black&catid=37:latest-news&Itemid=67 Currys and PC World go Black]</ref>


==References==
==References==
Line 54: Line 64:


==External links==
==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{commonscat}}
*{{Official website}} (United Kingdom)
*[http://www.currys.co.uk/ Currys (UK)]
*[http://www.currys.ie/ Currys (IRL)]
*[https://www.currys.ie/ Official website] (Ireland)


{{Dixons Carphone}}
{{Currys plc}}


[[Category:1884 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Consumer electronics retailers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Consumer electronics retailers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Retail companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Currys plc]]
[[Category:Retail companies established in 1884]]

Latest revision as of 08:15, 25 November 2024

This article is about the electrical retailer in the United Kingdom. For its parent company, see Currys plc. For the general variety of spicy dishes from Asia, see Curry. For all other uses, see Curry (disambiguation).

Currys
IndustryRetail
Founded1884
HeadquartersWaterloo, London, England
Number of locations
Decrease 301 (2023)[1]
Area served
United Kingdom, Ireland
Key people
Alex Baldock (Group Chief Executive)
Products
ParentCurrys plc
Websitecurrys.co.uk Edit this at Wikidata

Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is a British electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.

Established as a bicycle retailer in 1927, Currys expanded the range of goods sold and from the 1960s became a major retailer of household electrical items. In 1984 the company was bought by rival retailer Dixons, and the Currys brand was used for all outlets of the combined company. From 2008, the business turned away from shops in town centres to larger out-of-town stores under the Currys PC World brand, combining the operations of Currys with Dixon's PC World under one roof; after the formation of Dixons Carphone in 2014, the stores gained Carphone Warehouse departments. It was announced in July 2021 that all Currys PC World stores would be rebranded to Currys.

History

[edit]

Early years

[edit]
Currys Shop at 285–287 Belgrave gate in 1903

Henry Curry started to make bicycles in Painter Street Leicester in 1884, after leaving his previous employer N. Corah & Sons. Currys went public in 1927 when his four sons merged The Louth Bicycle Company, and the loose confederation of shops which the sons had run since their father's retirement in 1909, with the Nottingham-based Campion Cycle Company.[2]

An old sign for a Currys store in Cowley Road, Oxford, possibly dating from 1934.

By the 1940s, the shops sold a wide variety of goods including bicycles, toys, radios and gramophones.[3]

Meanwhile, particularly under the directorship between 1967 and 1984 of Dennis Curry, grandson of Henry Curry,[4] the company underwent considerable expansion to become a major high street supplier of televisions and white goods (refrigerators, washing machines and other domestic appliances); by 1984 Currys Group plc had 570 shops, twice as many as the company which was then to acquire it.[5]

Logo used until 2021
A Currys store in North Wales in 1966

Takeover by Dixons

[edit]
Branch in the former branding in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, 2006
Currys adjacent to former rival Comet in Guiseley, West Yorkshire, 2009

In 1984, Currys was taken over by Dixons (another electrical products retail chain, now Currys plc) but maintained its separate brand identity. In April 2006, Dixons Stores Group announced that its Dixons shops, except in Ireland and in duty-free areas in airports, would be rebranded as Currys.digital[6] (later changed to Currys Digital). In Ireland, the Dixons shops were rebranded as Currys in August 2008.[7]

Before the Dixons rebranding, the chain had only a few small town centre shops compared with its much greater number of large out-of-town megastores. On 17 January 2007, group chief executive John Clare announced that when the leases on the remaining Currys High Street shops (not the rebranded Currys.digital shops) expired, it would be unlikely that they would be renewed: thus the shops would be closed at the earliest opportunity.[8]

Currys PC World

[edit]
A combined Currys and PC World on The Headrow in Leeds, 2013

Dixons Retail began a trial combining Currys and PC World shops in 2008.[9][10] During the Dixons Carphone Christmas 2015–2016 results update to shareholders, Sebastian James, group chief executive, revealed that over the following financial year the three-in-one shop format (shops featuring Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse branding under one roof) would be rolled out across the company's entire portfolio in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.[11]

Revival of Currys as sole brand

[edit]

Following reorganisations in 2020 and 2021, Dixons Carphone announced that the Currys PC World stores would be rebranded as Currys in October 2021.[12]

Views

[edit]

In December 2023, Currys' CEO Alex Baldock said of a planned rise in the National Minimum Wage, "We believe we are paying our colleagues well and we certainly intend to continue to. That said, for the retail industry as a whole, having a big hike in the 'national living wage' at the same time as an expected half a billion pound increase in the rates bill just shows how little the government appears to understand or care about this industry."[13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Our Brands". CurrysPLC. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  2. ^ Harry Lerner 1984). Currys, the First 100 Years, Woodhead-Faulkner Press. ISBN 0859413071 [page needed]
  3. ^ Whittaker, John (16 April 2001). "Dennis Curry".
  4. ^ "Obituary: Dennis Curry". www.telegraph.co.uk. 17 April 2001. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Dixons Group plc" on Company-Histories.com
  6. ^ "Assessing the Currys.digital brand". Marketing Week. 29 September 2006. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  7. ^ Mulligan, John (7 August 2008). "Electrical store Dixons to be rebranded under Currys name". Irish Independent.
  8. ^ "Business Comment". The Independent. London. 18 January 2007. Archived from the original on 18 February 2007.
  9. ^ "PC World and Currys trial joint store". Archived from the original on 29 September 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  10. ^ Parfitt, Ben (3 August 2009). "PC World and Currys combo 'a success'". MCV. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  11. ^ "Christmas Trading Update 2015–16" (PDF). Dixons Carphone. Dixons Carphone. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.[permanent dead link‍]
  12. ^ Onita, Laura (13 May 2021). "Dixons, PC World and Carphone Warehouse to disappear in Currys rebrand". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Currys boss: minimum wage hike shows government does not 'care' about retail". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
[edit]
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