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Registration number: 5699

Company name: Army & Navy Stores Ltd
Dates in business: 1934-1981

Earlier name: Company name: Army & Navy Co-operative Society Ltd
Dates in business: 1871-1934

Type of business: co-operative society

Type of company: Limited liability company

• Victoria Street, Westminster, London, England
• Johnson Place, Westminster, London, England
• Ranelagh Road, Pimlico, London, England
• Paris, France
• Tooley Street, Westminster, London, England
• Leipzig, Germany
• Johnson Street, Westminster, London, England
• New York, United States of America
• Howick Place, Westminster, London, England
• Turnham Green, London, England
• Coburg Row, Westminster, London, England
• Portsmouth, England
• Plymouth, England
• Mumbai, India
• Karachi, Pakistan
• Kolkata, India
• New Delhi, India
• Shimla, India
• Ranchi, India
• Dorchester, England
• Guildford, England
• Chichester, England
• Wolverhampton, England
• Aldershot, England
• Leamington Spa, England
• Camberley, England
• Bromley, England

Management of company

The Society was governed by a board of directors, many of whom were retired army and navy officers. Its first managing director was Major F.B. McCrea.

Membership of the Society originally consisted of two classes: shareholders and annual subscribers. Shareholders were limited to officers, non-commissioned officers and petty officers, serving, or who had served, in the army, navy, militia or yeomanry, the widows of officers, the secretaries or other recognised officers of the military and naval clubs and representatives of regimental and naval messes and canteens. Shareholders were entitled to deal at the store, share in profits and have certain goods delivered free. Annual subscribers were those eligible to become shareholders but who did not wish to and others introduced by shareholders. They paid an annual subscription fee and enjoyed the same privileges as shareholders except sharing in the profits and management of the Society and the free delivery of goods. Members were issued with membership tickets, which had to be produced on request.

After the first world war, efforts were made to widen the membership and the stores became, in practice, open to all.

Company history

The Army & Navy Co-operative Society Ltd was incorporated on 15 September 1871. It was formed by a group of army and navy officers for the supply of articles of domestic consumption and general use to its members at the lowest remunerative rates. It was based on the model of two earlier middle-class co-operatives, the Civil Service Supply Association and the Civil Service Co-operative Society.

The Society leased a portion of the distillery premises owned by Vickers & Co in Victoria Street, Westminster, London and approached the traders advertising in the price lists of the other civil service societies with a view to securing supplies. The store opened in February 1872 for the sale of groceries. During the following weeks, further departments were established for stationery, drapery, fancy goods and tailoring. Over 10,000 price lists were posted. By early 1873, the warehouse was regularly overcrowded and the directors rented an adjoining house to which the stationery, turnery, chemist and tailoring departments were removed. At the end of 1873, a gun department was established and premises acquired in Johnson Place for warehousing, packing and a carpenter's shop. By early 1875, the Society was running a banking department by holding members' money on deposit for interest. By then more space was required, and negotiations were concluded with Vickers for the lease of additional premises with an option to purchase. In May 1875, a Paris agency was opened.

By 1876, the Johnson Place premises had become too cramped for the Society's growing manufacturing activities. New workshops were acquired at Ranelagh Road, Pimlico where a separate manufacturing department was established for tailoring, shirt-making, printing and, from 1877, the production of portmanteaux. In 1877, a Leipzig office was opened. At this time, the option to purchase the Victoria Street premises was taken up and a new building was completed in 1878, where a refreshment room was opened. In the same year, a general price reduction was implemented in order to diminish the unexpectedly large profits which had accumulated. Other retailers, incensed by the Army & Navy's low price policy and what they saw as unfair competition, secured the appointment of a parliamentary select committee on co-operative stores to investigate their complaints. The committee concluded that there was no evidence to justify its closure.

The Society's business grew rapidly during the 1880s and, in September 1881, Vickers was given notice to quit the remaining premises which it occupied. Alterations were completed at the end of 1882 and the Society's warehouse premises were moved from Tooley Street to a more convenient location in Westminster.

In 1882, the Society formed the Army & Navy Auxiliary Co-operative Supply Ltd to supply it with fresh provisions, boots, furniture and estate agency services. In the same year, a purchasing agency was established in New York and a Thomas Cook ticket office briefly installed in Victoria Street. Meanwhile, the manufacturing activities had grown enormously and could no longer be accommodated in the Ranelagh Road property. Consequently, in 1884, workshop premises were acquired in Johnson Street. In 1888, office space in Howick Place was converted for retail use and the wine and gun departments transferred there from the Victoria Street block which was connected to the new showrooms by a gangway.

In 1890, an agency was established in Plymouth to satisfy the requirements of the military and naval messes and, in the same year, a depot was created in Apollo Street, Mumbai, for the convenience of members in India. In 1891, a second Indian depot was opened in Bundar Road, Karachi, to serve regiments quartered in the Punjab and Scind. In 1892, larger premises were leased in Esplanade Road, Mumbai, although they were not ready for occupation until the end of 1894. Both Indian depots were profitable from the outset, but experienced trading difficulties during the late 1890s caused by the frontier campaign and the low prices charged at local bazaars. Nevertheless, in 1901, a new store was opened in Kolkata in Chowringhee Road. In 1900, the Karachi depot was closed as the area had ceased to be used for military purposes. In the 1930s, smaller stores were opened in New Delhi, Shimla and Ranchi.

Meanwhile, in London, the stores were continually extended and improved. In 1894, a preserved provisions factory was erected in Coburg Row, and in 1897, adjoining premises were acquired at 107 Victoria Street and occupied in 1899. By this time the Society was issuing an enormous illustrated price list each year and had introduced a telephone ordering service. During the Boer War the Stores sent groceries, wine and tobacco to South African ports where they were sold by local agents on a commission basis. In 1900, a large warehouse was erected in Westminster for making up export and country orders and storing groceries. The following year the shirt and collar factory was moved out of Ranelagh Road to allow the further extension of the printing department.

During the First World War, trade suffered as a result of acute staff shortages and the diminished spending power of the Society's customers. Some new business was forthcoming, however, in the form of army and clothing contracts from the War Office. In December 1919, the Society suffered a major strike of its shop staff. Trade continued to be depressed throughout the early 1920s.

In 1922, the Victoria Street front was improved by the introduction of floodlighting and display windows. Later, the railings and porches were removed and glass shopfronts were introduced on the Howick Place side. The shop's name was abbreviated to the Army & Navy Stores in an effort to throw off its traditional image. In 1934, the company's official name was changed to the Army & Navy Stores Ltd.

Trading conditions were difficult during the trade depression of the 1930s. During the Second World War, part of the Westminster store was requisitioned for the production of camouflage netting and helmets. Merchandise was in short supply and the production of the large annual price list was discontinued. During the blitz, the Turnham Green and Portsmouth premises suffered serious bomb damage and the Plymouth depot was entirely destroyed. After the war, following Indian independence in 1947, the Army & Navy's depots in Mumbai and Kolkata in India were gradually wound down. The store in Kolkata was closed in 1948, and the last Indian store, in Mumbai, was closed in 1952.

Thereafter, the company determined to extend its business in the UK and, rejecting three takeover proposals in early 1952, launched a massive advertising campaign and embarked upon the acquisition of a network of small provincial stores. In March 1953, it purchased Genge & Co Ltd, a small department store in Dorchester. This was followed by the acquisitions of William Harvey of Guildford Ltd in November 1953, J D Morant Ltd of Chichester in March 1955, Thomas Clarkson Ltd of Wolverhampton in 1960, Thomas White & Co Ltd of Aldershot in 1961, and Burgis & Colbourne Ltd of Leamington Spa in 1963. The company had also acquired a site in Camberley where a new Harveys store was built in 1964. In the same year, extensions were opened in Guildford, Chichester, Dorchester and Wolverhampton. In 1968, the company purchased the Bromley stores of Harrison Gibson Ltd.

In 1973, work began on the construction of a new store in Victoria Street. In the same year, the company was taken over by House of Fraser Ltd, department store retailers, of Glasgow and, in 1975, was combined, as Army & Navy Division, with the John Barker stores in Kensington and Eastbourne. It continued to trade as Army & Navy Stores Ltd. In February 1981, after a restructuring of House of Fraser Ltd, Army & Navy Stores Ltd was transferred to House of Fraser (Stores) Ltd, the main operating company. It appears that the company was liquidated shortly afterwards.

Access points: Co-operative societies - Department stores - Retail trade