Henry Walton Smith opened the first shop – a newsagents week 230 years ago and this week announced the WHSmith name is disappearing from the High Street forever joining other axed brands Mothercare, Woolworths and C&A
The news that WHSmith has agreed to sell its UK high street chain to an investment firm Modella Capital and rebrand as TGJones is another blow to our proud British High Street history. The buy-out means WHSmith name will disappear after 233 years from town centres – joining the likes of Topshop. Woolworths, C&A and Mothercare.
However, the struggling books and stationery retailer will keep hold of its more profitable travel locations, so shops in airports and train stations will remain open and will continue to operate under the WHSmith brand, which is not included as part of the sale. WHSmith has just over 500 high street stores in the UK compared to its over 1,200 travel stores across 32 countries. WHSmith says its travel arm accounts for 85% of group profits.
Modella Capital, which is known for snapping up troubled retailers and previously acquired Hobbycraft and The Original Factory Shop, was one of two remaining parties that were bidding for WHSmith. WHSmith had reportedly been weighing up offers from Modella Capital and Alteri Investors.
It comes after WHSmith confirmed earlier this year that it was considering a “potential sale” of its high street stores to focus on its travel locations. The retailer, which opened its first store in 1792, had been slowly closing high street locations over the last few months. The deal with Modella Capital is valued at £76million and was made just after the British retailer confirmed it was looking to sell its 529 high street stores.
Founded in London in 1792, the brand had an excellent reputation in the 1960s-1980s. But appeared to lose its way over the last twenty years with shoppers commented on its once carefully curated selection of quality stationary becoming a clearance sale dump of “overpriced rubbish”. Henry Walton Smith opened the first shop – a newsagent on Little Grosvenor Street in London with wife Anna in 1792.
The couple’s two sons William and Henry inherited the business 18 years later and renamed it after themselves. In 1848, the brothers founded their first newsstand in Euston station – and within two years, WH Smith was named the UK’s principal newspaper distributor. This led the ambitious siblings to open depots in Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester. A century later the business began selling vinyl records and expanded into Europe and Canada.
In the 1960s, the chain was famed for its sleek interiors and state-of-the-art listening pods, which allowed customers to listen to records before buying them. In the 1970s Smith family sold the business, which had maintained the same classic oak-fronted shops with their ‘WHS’ logo for almost 200 years. The new management debuted their new brown-and-orange cube logo.
The company further diversified by launching WHSmith Travel in 1973 – and later acquired the DIY chain Do It All, which merged with Payless DIY. In 1986, the company bought Paperchase and Our Price Music, establishing themselves as a heavyweight in both the record and stationery retail worlds.
It was a particular favourite of students and pupils for its well-stocked stationery sections – packed with coloured pens, glue sticks, novelty pencil cases, light-up pens, animal-shaped rubbers, and other study supplies. In the noughties supermarkets increasingly began stocking newspapers, books, CDs and DVDs in the noughties, which put a strain of WHSmith’s hold on the market.
Speaking to The Times in 2004. Richard Hyman – chairman of research consultancy Verdict – explained: “I can’t say what they are there for. That is the core problem that Smiths faces. They don’t have a clear view of what they are there for. That is shown in the poor shopping experience in their stores.”
The retailer was voted Britain’s worst or second worst high street retailer for nine straight years from 2011 to 2019, in a poll conducted by consumer watchdog Which? In 2015 British financial journalist Matthew Lynn wrote in Management Today: “”[WHSmith] has become the poster child for short-term penny-pinching management, destroying its brand to keep the shareholders happy and the executive bonuses rolling, while sacrificing its medium-term chances of staying in business.
“It has ruthlessly under-invested in its high-street shops, while pushing up prices on most of its range, and tempting customers in with massive chocolate bars sold for a quid. It has worked so far, but only by creating a horrible shopping experience.”
That year, the X account ‘WHS_Carpet_Twitter’ became a viral sensation, which documented some of the most run-down floorings in the company’s stores. The anonymous founder of the account told the publication: “What started off as a bit of a laugh soon escalated as it became clear that many customers and staff members were equally alarmed by the declining state of what used to be a high-street favourite.
‘I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the interest in what is a horrifically niche Twitter feed, but I think it just resonates with folk who have fond childhood memories of it but are now disturbed by how much staff cuts and cost-saving measures have turned WHSmith into an anti-retailer.’
More controversial than their carpeting was when it was revealed in 2009 that it had increased the prices at their stores in hospitals. In one hospital branch, a bottle of still mineral water is on sale for £1.69, compared to 85p in the city centre. Another hospital-based WHSmith charges £2.99 for a pad of paper and £2.89 for a rollerball pen, compared to £1.99 and £2.49 at its nearby store. In 2011, retail expert Mary Portas – who as hired by ex-PM David Cameron to revamp Britain’s high streets – famously referred to WHSmith as a ‘dump’. She fumed on Twitter: “I truly hate WHSmith. Used to be a loved British biz & now a dump. “
