Vergo Retail Ltd was a

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 ...

business based in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England, founded in 2007. Vergo Retail ran 20 shops, consisting of nine department stores, including

Lewis's Lewis's is an online retailer and homeware brand. It was also a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The owners of Lewis's went into administration several times, including in 1991. The first store, which ope ...

of Liverpool,

Robbs Robbs was a mid-size department store in Hexham, latterly owned by Beales. It was established in 1818 by William Robb a lace trader from Fife and subsequently managed for the next 169 years in an unbroken father to son line for six generations ...

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

Joplings Joplings was a department store, located in Sunderland, England, which was part of the former Vergo Retail Ltd. group of department stores. History The store was established in 1804 by James Jopling and soon he went into partnership with Josep ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and Derrys of

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

and four others in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

; four Homemaker stores in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, four home and fashion stores in Essex and Suffolk; two home stores in Essex; and a jewellery store in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

. The company entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in 2010.

History

Vergo Retail was formed in May 2007 in order to acquire Lewis's, Robbs and Joplings from Owen Owen Ltd which was in administration. The company was owned by David Thompson, the owner of Owen Owen and a former director of

Mothercare Mothercare plc is a global brand for products for parents and young children. The company's shares are listed on AIM in London. Mothercare was founded in the United Kingdom in 1961, and specialized in products for expectant mothers and in ge ...

Habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

and

British Home Stores British Home Stores, commonly abbreviated to BHS and latterly legally styled BHS Ltd, is an online store and formerly a British department store chain, primarily selling clothing and household items. In its later years, the company began to exp ...

, and later director and shareholder of

MK One MK One was a British fashion retailer. History Beginnings as Mark One The company was founded in the 1980s by Mark Brafman, Les Lucy and Alan Simons as Mark One, and became a discount womenswear retailer. In February 1996, Mark One was boug ...

which was sold in 2004 for £55m. In 2009 Vergo Retail entered a further phase of growth, acquiring the department store operations of two co-operative societies. First, in February 2009, Plymouth and South West Co-operative Society (Plymco) agreed to sell its non-food business to Vergo. This consisted of Derrys department store in Plymouth, and four Homemaker stores in Devon and Cornwall. Vergo Retail took control of these stores on 15 March 2009. Secondly, on 16 June 2009, it was announced that Vergo Retail would take over the East of England Co-operative Society department stores at sites in

and

, with the 350 current staff employed by the East of England Co-operative expected to keep their jobs during the transfer. Department stores in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea, often simply called Clacton, is a seaside town and seaside resort, resort in the county of Essex, on the east coast of England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District, wi ...

and

, along with six specialist home stores and one jewellery store, were transferred to Vergo Retail on 4 July 2009 with the East of England Co-operative Society retaining the freehold.

Decline and administration

On 22 January 2010 it was announced that Lewis's of Liverpool was to close by June 2010 as the lease from the landlords, Merepark, expired then and it could not be renewed owing to a planned redevelopment of the building. As a result, a closing down sale was launched to sell around £5 million of stock, as well as fixtures and fittings. Vergo's head office, which was also located in the Renshaw Street premises, would continue to operate from there in the short term until alternative accommodation was available. On 7 May 2010 Vergo was placed into administration, with MCR appointed as the administrators. From 11 May 2010, 335 staff were made redundant and it was announced that there would be ten store closures within the next four weeks unless a buyer was found. These were Lewis's of Liverpool (already scheduled for closure), Robbs of Hexham, Joplings of Sunderland, Derry's of Plymouth, the "Fashion, Home & More!" stores in Witham, Clacton-on-Sea, Stowmarket and Dovercourt, the department store in Norwich and The Jewellery Store in Colchester. This left ten stores open, namely the Homemaker stores in Kingsteignton, Launceston, Exmouth and Cothill (Plymouth); the Vergo at Home stores at Stanway (Colchester) and Clacton-on-Sea; the "Fashion Home & More!" store in Felixstowe and the Ipswich, Great Yarmouth and Colchester department stores. By 21 May 2010, Beales had lodged a formal notice of interest in Robbs of Hexham, whilst the administrators asked the Buccleuch Group, owners of the building, and

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Northumberland in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having also ...

to waive rent and rates for ten weeks, to allow the business to be continued to be marketed as a going concern. On 25 May 2010 it was announced that closing down sales would begin at all stores in the chain, managed by Hilco, and Lewis's would close on Saturday 29 May. By this point the Dovercourt store had closed and 341 staff had been made redundant across the chain. The administrators continued to negotiate with various potential purchasers, who were interested in all or part of the business. The sales were to ensure that there was sufficient cash to fund the business in the short term. One of these parties was revealed to be Chris Dawson, owner of The Range, who said "I am interested in a few of the stores, parts of the group and all of the stock." Tony Brown, chief executive of Beales, confirmed that he was still interested in Robbs and Beales acquired Robbs on 4 June for £250,000. By 26 June 2010 just four stores remained open, and these closed within a week. Both the East of England Co-operative Society and the

Co-operative Group The Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op and formerly known as the Co-operative Wholesale Society, is a British consumer cooperative, consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses, including grocery retail and wholesale, leg ...

offered their former employees compensation packages, despite not being legally obliged to do so. In January 2011 Metis Partners was appointed to sell brand assets, including the Derrys, Joplings, Lewis's and Owen Owen names and related

domain names In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services, and more. D ...

. The company was dissolved in August 2014.

Stores

At its peak there were twenty Vergo stores operating in five divisions. {, class="wikitable" , - ! Store Name !! Type , - , Derrys of

, , Department Store , - ,

, , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - ,

Dovercourt Dovercourt is a seaside town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Harwich, in the Tendring district, in the county of Essex, England. It is older than its smaller but better-known neighbour, the port of Harwich. The name is common B ...

, , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - ,

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...

, , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - ,

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...

, , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - ,

Witham Witham () is a town and civil parish in the Braintree district, in the county of Essex, England. In the 2011 census, it had a population of 25,353. It is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands on the Roman road between the ...

, , Vergo Fashion Home & More! , - , Cothill (Plymouth) , , Homemaker , - ,

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort situated on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe, southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of settl ...

, , Homemaker , - ,

Kingsteignton Kingsteignton ( ), is a town and civil parish in south Devon, England. It lies at the head of the Teign Estuary to the west of Teignmouth in the Teignbridge district. It is bypassed by the A380 and is also on the A383, A381, B3193 and B31 ...

, , Homemaker , - , Launceston , , Homemaker , - , Clacton-on-Sea , , Vergo at Home , - , Stanway (Colchester) , , Vergo at Home , - , Colchester , , The Jewellery Store

References

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20100204105413/http://vergoretail.co.uk/
Vergo Retail website Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in Liverpool British companies established in 2007 Retail companies established in 2007 Retail companies disestablished in 2010