Barrow's Stores, also known as Barrow's, was an upmarket

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

located in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. In the late 1950s, Barrow's Stores moved into the emerging supermarket business, and in 1964 was purchased by Fitch Lovell, the food distribution and manufacturing group, who eventually merged the business into their own chain, Key Markets.

History

Barrow's Stores was originally started by

Richard Cadbury Richard Barrow Cadbury (29 August 1835 – 22 March 1899) was an English entrepreneur, chocolate-maker and philanthropist. He was the second son of the Quaker John Cadbury, founder of Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company. Career Together w ...

, of the

Cadbury family The Cadbury family is a British family of wealthy Quaker industrialists descending from Richard Tapper Cadbury. * Richard Tapper Cadbury (1768–1860), draper and abolitionist, who financed his sons' start-up business; married Elizabeth Head **J ...

. Richard opened a small drapery store in 1794 in Bull Street. By 1824 the Cadbury family opened a new shop next door selling tea, coffee and cocoa. However, in 1849

John Cadbury John Cadbury (12 August 1801 – 11 May 1889) was an English Quaker and businessperson, who founded the Cadbury chocolate company in Birmingham, England. He was also involved in activism and philanthropy, championing workers' rights, environment ...

transferred the business to his cousin Richard Cadbury Barrow so they could concentrate on the manufacture of chocolate. The business was renamed Barrow's Stores. By 1905 the store had been rebuilt with a new cafe on the first floor for the customers to try the company's products, and had numerous departments from glass & china to food. The business provided Christmas lists of goods available for customers to purchase, while their fleet of vehicles delivered goods across Birmingham and to areas such as

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

Lichfield Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...

. The business was one of a selected retailers who sold

Suttons Seeds Suttons Seeds is a long established supplier of seeds, bulbs, and other horticultural products. Today based in the English town of Paignton, the company supplies its products worldwide, and until 2014 was part of the Vilmorin Clause & Compag ...

. During the late 1950s, Barrow's Stores moved into the emerging supermarket business, with a new store opening in Solihull during 1959 (it closed in 1967). In the 1960s Barrow's moved from their location on the corner of Bull Street and Corporation Street to a smaller store on Corporation Street opposite Lewis', where the new store concentrated on food. The business was purchased by

Fitch Lovell Fitch Lovell was a British food manufacturing, transportation, distribution and retail conglomerate with origins dating back to 1784. The company was purchased by Booker Group in 1990 for £279.7 million and during 1991 the business was merged i ...

in 1964, and in December 1973 they merged Barrow's into their chain Key Markets Supermarkets.

J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

's fascination for Barrow's led him to name his student club T.C.B.S. (Tea Club and Barrovian Society) after the store.

References

{{Authority control Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Retail companies of England British companies established in 1849 Retail companies established in 1849 Retail companies disestablished in 1973 1849 establishments in England 1973 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1973 Delicatessens in the United Kingdom Luxury brands Food retailers of the United Kingdom Department store buildings in the United Kingdom