History
The store dates back to 1838, when Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge went into partnership with William Alder Dunn and opened a drapers and fashion shop in Newcastle's Market Street. Despite success the two partners fell out and went their separate ways.
In 1849 there were 23 separate departments, with weekly takings recorded by department, making it the first department store in the world. This ledger survives and is now kept in the archives of the John Lewis Partnership.
Emerson Bainbridge died in 1892 and his sons took over the business. In that same year, Bainbridge's employed a staff of 600 in Newcastle, and the store had 11,705 square yards of floor space. In 1897 the business became a private limited company. During the Depression, which hit the Newcastle area badly, the store introduced agents who operated in less prosperous areas, collecting payments in weekly instalments. This meant that people on low incomes could continue to buy from the shop and it kept the Bainbridge name and reputation known in areas where otherwise it might have faded away.
In 1952 an offer from the John Lewis Partnership was accepted and ownership transferred to John Lewis in the following year, although the store continued to operate under the Bainbridge brand alongside the words "A branch of the John Lewis Partnership". The John Lewis takeover allowed much needed capital investment into the store into one of the leading department stores in the country by 1974. In 1976 the store was relocated to the Eldon Square shopping centre in the city, and was at the time the largest John Lewis outside of London.
In 2002 further refurbishment took place, and in the same year (following a suggestion from the store partners) the store was re-branded as John Lewis.
At the time of its demise, the Bainbridge name was one of the longest continuously traded department store brands in the world.
In 2008, a Waitrose supermarket, also owned by the John Lewis Partnership, opened in an extension to Eldon Square, constructed in the undercroft area that was formerly occupied by Eldon Square bus station. The Waitrose is across the mall from the basement entrance of John Lewis, but is not linked to it directly.
Read more about this topic: John Lewis Newcastle
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