BHS or British Home Stores is a British department store chain with several stores located in high street locations. BHS deals in clothing and household items like cutlery, crockery, bed linen, and lighting. BHS has 179 stores across the United Kingdom and is part of the Arcadia Group.
The company was founded in 1928 in South London and expanded to open new stores in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1977, the company launched a joint venture with Sainsbury to create hypermarkets with the SavaCentre brand. During the 1980s the company closed its overseas branch in Dublin due to the downturn in business at that time. BHS opened its first overseas franchise store in Gibraltar in 1985, and stores not directly owned by the company like this one currently operate all over Europe and the Middle East.
In 1986, the company merged with Mothercare and Habitat to form Storehouse plc, and later the British Home Stores registered a company name. The name was soon reflected in all its stores as “BHS” and later “Bhs,” finally moving over to all capitals “BHS” and a new corporate logo.
BHS operates its business in nine regions and has regional manager heading each region. The 22 “flagship” stores are managed by a general manager. The company’s head office is located in Marylebone, London. Since 1985, the BHS brand has been franchised to various stores around the world. Though these stores are not directly owned by BHS, yet their products are supplied by the company. BHS has 179 stores and employs over 17,250 people all across the United Kingdom.
