Julian Richer
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Julian Richer (born 1959) is an English retail entrepreneur, philanthropist and author, best known as the founder of Richer Sounds, the UK's largest hi-fi retailer. Richer has gained a reputation for his motivational style of management and his philanthropic and charitable activities. According to the ''
Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and has been published as a magazine supplement by British national ...
'' in 2019, Richer was worth £160 million.


Early life

Richer was born in
St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospita ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 1959. He was at UCS Junior School from 1968 to 1972 before becoming a boarder at
Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...
in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
between 1972 and 1977, after a bequest from his grandfather. His parents both worked for
Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...
before going on to work for themselves. His father, Percy, later qualified as a
solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...
when he was 50.


Career

Richer's business career started at the age of 14 while he was still at school at
Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...
,
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, and he opened his first shop near
London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...
aged 19. This store in south London holds the
Guinness record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...
for the highest sales per square foot of any retail outlet in the world. Richer in the past advised some organisations including
Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...
on staff motivation, customer service, cultural change, communications and suggestion schemes. In March 2018, Marks & Spencer announced that he was advising them on cultural change. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by
Kingston University Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...
and
Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The universi ...
in 2002,
University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...
and
Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
in 2023, as well as
University of Worcester The University of Worcester is a public research university, based in Worcester, England. With a history dating back to 1946, the university began awarding degrees in 1997 and was granted full university status in 2005. History In 1946 an Emerg ...
in 2025. Richer was appointed as a
Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the ...
(LVO) in 2007. In November 2013, Richer announced to the press that he would
bequeath A devise is the act of giving real property by will, traditionally referring to real property. A bequest is the act of giving property by will, usually referring to personal property. Today, the two words are often used interchangeably due to thei ...
100% of the firm to a trust co-owned by employees of the company. In May 2019, Richer, then aged 60, announced that he had transferred ownership to employees by passing 60% of his shares to a trust, as well as separately paying each employee, excluding directors, a thank you bonus of £1,000 for every year of work to over 500 employees who had worked an average of 8 years each (circa £4 million). In 2019, Richer was awarded the 'Outstanding Contribution to Retail' award by ''
Retail Week Retail Week is a London-based news website, data service, events producer and previously a magazine covering the retail industry, primarily in the United Kingdom. History and profile Founded in 1988 by financial journalist Patience Wheatcroft ...
'' magazine. In 2020, ''
What Hi-Fi? ''What Hi-Fi?'' is a website and magazine published by Future. It is a buying guide for consumer electronics, featuring news, reviews and features on hi-fi, home cinema, television and home audio. The websitewhathifi.com is updated daily, while the ...
'' gave Richer their Outstanding Contribution award, stating "The man behind Richer Sounds, and much more, has made an undeniably positive mark on the UK hi-fi industry." In 2022, Richer wrote a series of 31 articles for ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' in the business section, under the title "Julian Richer Sound Advice" and still contributes from time to time.


Charitable interests

15% of the profits from Richer Sounds are donated to charities. Richer has a particular interest in supporting charities involved with issues such as human rights, animal welfare and social housing deprivation. Richer founded ACTS435, which was launched in December 2009 by the
Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...
, Dr John Sentamu, who remains a patron. Acts435 connects people in need with people who can donate. ACTS435 operates from about 600 locations, mostly churches but also
Citizens Advice Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this natio ...
branches and debt counselling centres.
Christians Against Poverty Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a Christian charitable company in the United Kingdom founded in Bradford, West Yorkshire by John Kirkby in 1996. It is a national organisation specialising in debt counselling for people in financial difficu ...
and the Trussell Trust are key partners. Over thirty thousand people have benefited from the charity (as of May 2021). The charity allows people to give directly to those in need, meaning that 100% of funds raised by Acts435 goes to the recipients. He founded the charity ASB Help in 2013 which supports victims of anti-social behaviour. Baroness Newlove, Victims’ Commissioner, endorsed ASB Help soon after, commenting: "I am delighted that ASB Help has launched this service to help equip victims in the fight against anti-social behaviour." The charity’s website provides interactive guides, practical information and the necessary tools on how to effectively report anti-social behaviour. It helps over two thousand people per week. He founded Richer Unsigned, a not-for-profit designed to promote the best undiscovered music the UK has to offer. Richer Unsigned supports and promotes musicians who may just be getting started, who have been in the industry a while or simply do not have a great label deal. It currently has over 3,000 artists featured on its website. In 2017, Parallel Histories was launched, which Richer co-founded, with the aim of offering schools a way to teach both sides of contentious historical issues. In 2018 he founded TaxWatch which launched in October, dedicated to the research and exposure of aggressive tax avoiding corporations. TaxWatch has been cited by several newspapers, including ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
,
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
,
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' and many others as well as Parliament with regard to corporate tax avoidance, including high profile investigations into tech, media and retail companies. It was also included in International Tax Review's 2020–2021 Global Tax 50. International Tax Review’s Global Tax 50 is an annual list of "the most influential figures and events in fiscal policy over the past year." The list also seeks to recognise "who and what will be particularly important" in the coming year. In November 2019 it was reported in the ''
Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegr ...
'' that he was launching and funding the Good Business Charter to encourage businesses to improve their behaviour, which was confirmed by Carolyn Fairbairn in a speech at the CBI's annual conference the following day. It was launched on 3 February 2020. Various charities, businesses and public sector organisations have signed up, including
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
,
Aviva Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 19 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...
,
Brompton Bicycle Brompton Bicycle Limited, trading as Brompton, is a British manufacturer of folding bicycles based in Greenford, London. The Brompton folding bicycle and accessories are the company's core product, noted for its self-supporting compact size w ...
,
Capita Capita plc is an international business process outsourcing and professional services company headquartered in London. It is the largest business process outsourcing and professional services company in the United Kingdom, with an overall ma ...
,
City of York Council City of York Council is the local authority for the city of York, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. York has had a city council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1996 the council has be ...
,
Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...
,
Ealing Borough Council Ealing London Borough Council, which styles itself Ealing Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Ealing in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majorit ...
,
League Against Cruel Sports The League Against Cruel Sports, formerly known as the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports, is a UK-based animal welfare charity which campaigns to stop blood sports such as fox hunting, hare and deer hunting; game bird shooting; and anim ...
,
Luton Borough Council Luton Borough Council, also known as Luton Council, is the local authority of Luton, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Luton has had an elected local authority since 1850, which has been reformed several times. Since 1997 the co ...
,
Legal & General Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services and asset management company headquartered in London, England. Its products and services include investment management, lifetime mortg ...
,
London City Airport London City Airport is an international airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the London Borough of Newham, Borough of Newham, about east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the two centres ...
,
Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...
,
Shelter A shelter is an architectural structure or natural formation (or a combination of the two) providing protection from the local environment. A shelter can serve as a home or be provided by a residential institution. It can be understood as both ...
,
Soil Association The Soil Association is a British registered charity focused on the effect of agriculture on the environment. It was established in 1946. Their activities include campaigning for local purchasing, public education on nutrition and certificat ...
, St. James's Place plc, Trussell Trust,
Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...
, TSB Bank,
University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
and the
University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...
. In January 2020, Richer launched Zero Hours Justice, a campaign designed to highlight the exploitative nature of zero hour contracts and ultimately, to seek a complete ban on them, when unilaterally imposed on workers. It has also fought for humane working practices around zero hours contracts, such as advocating for staff to be put on furlough while on zero hours contracts. It provides legal information and advice through a telephone helpline, email and website. Apart from that, this campaign also empowers people by circulating necessary information regarding zero hour contracts and promoting healthy working environments. On 29 November 2021, The Fairness Foundation was launched, which Richer had founded to change the terms of the public debate about fairness, and to inspire citizens, the media and decision-makers to create a fairer society. The Foundation focuses on areas such as democracy, education, the environment, health, housing, justice, social security, taxation, wealth and work as some of the core issues that need addressing in order to make society fairer. The editorial board is chaired by
Will Hutton William Nicolas Hutton (born 21 May 1950) is an English journalist. As of 2022, he writes a regular column for '' The Observer'', co-chairs the Purposeful Company, and is the president-designate of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is the cha ...
.


Books

Richer has written several books, including: ''The Richer Way'', which talks about starting a business and how to motivate a workforce by getting the best out of people. ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' described it as "one of the best business books in history" ''The Ethical Capitalist'', which discusses the need for a new sense of moral purpose in business and how to make business work better for society. This was a ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' book of the month. ''Our Housing Disaster: and what we can do about it'', describes how we got to such a catastrophic housing situation and that a new and bold approach to providing the homes that the UK needs is essential. The book was featured by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' and ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
''.


Personal life

Richer is married to Rosie, a fashion model. They live near
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
in North Yorkshire, England. Richer was baptised into the Anglican faith in 2006 by The Rev Canon Roger Simpson at St Michael Le Belfrey, York and was confirmed later the same year by
John Sentamu John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Baron Sentamu, (; ; born 10 June 1949) is a retired Anglican bishop and life peer. He was Archbishop of York and Primate of England from 2005 to 2020. In retirement he was subject to investigation over his handl ...
,
Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...
, in his chapel in Bishopthorpe Palace. In his spare time, Richer plays the drums in the soul/funk/pop group, Ten Millennia, who have supported
Shakin' Stevens Michael Barratt (born 4 March 1948), known professionally as Shakin' Stevens, is a Welsh singer and songwriter. He was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although ...
,
The Corrs The Corrs are an Irish family band consisting of siblings Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle, mandolin, ukulele), Sharon (violin, keyboards, vocals), Caroline (drums, percussion, piano, bodhrán, vocals) and Jim (guitar, piano, keyboards, v ...
,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
,
Tony Hadley Anthony Patrick Hadley (born 2 June 1960) is an English pop singer. He rose to fame in the 1980s as the lead singer of the New wave music, new wave band Spandau Ballet and launched a solo career following the group's split in 1990. Hadley retur ...
and
Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...
he latter on 13 occasions including 30 November 2018 at the
Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...
.


References


External links


Richer Sounds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richer, Julian British retail company founders Businesspeople from the London Borough of Lambeth English businesspeople in retailing Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order Living people 1959 births People educated at Clifton College