Rosebys was a retail chain, consisting of over 300 soft-furnishing stores across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Rosebys sold bedding, curtains, bathroom textiles, and other products. In September 2008 it was announced that Rosebys had become a victim of the

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

caused by the 2008 credit crunch and had been placed into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

. As of 2022, the defunct brand is still owned by Indian manufacturing company, GHCL Limited, who have owned the chain since 2006.

History

Rosebys and Bensons - Crown Point Retail Park - geograph

Rosebys was founded in

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

in 1922 and, following this, expanded into

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

and northeast

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. They acquired a number of other companies in the 1980s, including Sherrys, Stapleton Linens, Maytime Linens, and Waldmans, and became a publicly traded company in 1992. They acquired Brentfords, Knightingales, Shallets, Russells and Bond Street Fabrics in 1995, Rexmore in 1996, and Bensons Beds, Fabric Warehouse and Fads/Homestyle in 2000. Following this, the company changed its name to Homestyle Group.About Us
Rosebys. Accessed on line 21 December 2007. Homestyle Group bought the Harveys chain in 2000. Knightingales stores were rebranded as Rosebys in 2002. In 2004, Rosebys and Fabric Warehouse were acquired by

Lloyds Development Capital Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Limited (LDC), is a mid-market private equity house and subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group, established in 1981 as Lloyds Development Capital Limited. From 1999 to 2011, it was known as Lloyds TSB Developme ...

and split into two separate companies. In 2006, Rosebys was acquired by Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd., part of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

-based

Dalmia Group Dalmia Bharat Group, (DBG) is an Indian conglomerate company, which trace their origin to the businesses established by ''Ramkrishna Dalmia'' and Jaidayal Dalmia. The Dalmia brothers established a business conglomerate in eastern India, in the ...

Closure

On Friday 26 September 2008, with quarterly rents being due on the following Monday, it was announced that Rosebys had been placed into administration, with the loss of 2,000 jobs. Despite an annual turnover of £100m, the group had become a victim of reduced high street spending with fears that it would be the first of such high street failures. In November 2008,

Edinburgh Woollen Mill Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) is a Carlisle-based retailer specialising in clothing, along with interests in homewares and destination shopping for tourists. It was previously owned by the Dubai-based British billionaire Philip Day. The company ...

bought 77 stores from the administrators and merged them with the assets of furnishings business Ponden Mill to create the 150-strong Ponden Home chain.New owner could reopen 75 Peacocks stores
''BBC News - Wales'', 26 February 2012.

References

{{reflist Retail companies established in 1922 Furniture retailers of the United Kingdom Retail companies disestablished in 2008 Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom