Schreiber Furniture

Schreiber is a brand of fitted kitchen and furniture operating in the United Kingdom.

Schreiber Furniture
Limited company
IndustryManufacturer
Founded1957
FounderChaim Schreiber
Headquarters
Milton Keynes
,
England
Area served
United Kingdom
ProductsKitchens, furniture
OwnerJ Sainsbury plc
Websitewww.argos.co.uk/schreiber

Started in 1957 by Chaim Schreiber to make furniture, Schreiber became an extremely successful brand in furniture from the 1960s to the early 1970s, challenging both Harris Lebus and Gomme for domination. In the 1970s it became vertically integrated by opening its own furniture centres. The company merged with GEC in the 1970s. Schreiber was later bought out by the MFI Group, and on MFI's bankruptcy in 2008, the brand rights were bought by the Home Retail Group in 2009. In 2016, the Home Retail Group was purchased by the UK retailer Sainsbury's, including the rights to the Schreiber brand.[1]

History

Early years

In 1957, Chaim Schreiber, a Polish refugee immigrant who made radio cabinets for Dansette and other larger electrical manufacturers, bought the bankrupt furniture business Lubetkin and re-branded it under his own name, Schreiber.

Expansion

Schreiber was hugely successful in the 1960s and 1970s, challenging Lebus and Gomme for domination. It was a major manufacturer of bedroom furniture in the 1960s at the value end of the market. It bought the more upmarket competitor Greaves and Thomas in 1967.

Vertical integration

In 1970, Schreiber's turnover overtook that of arch-rival Gomme, helped by the failure of its even bigger competitor Harris Lebus the previous year.

Schreiber introduced both new upholstered furniture and bedroom furniture in 1973. It also started selling fitted kitchens, ensuring that it offered something for the whole house. Schreiber also opened Schreiber Furniture Centres, which were 3,500 sq ft in size stocking 4,000 products. It invited retail traders to bid for their shops to become its new centres, and 280 opened out of 800 applications.

Merger with GEC

In 1973 turnover was double that of 1971, but trade started to suffer thereafter. Chaim Schreiber tried and aborted flotation attempts on the stock market of the company in 1972 and 1973[2], and by 1974 the company was in need of cash. A merger was proposed by Sir Arnold Weinstock of GEC between Schreiber Wood Industries and British Domestic Appliances (BDA), better known as the company behind Hotpoint and Morphy Richards[3]. GEC placed BDA in a new subsidiary company called GEC-Schreiber Limited and Schreiber also came under the ownership of that company. GEC held 62.5% of the resulting business, with Chaim Schreiber holding 27.5%[4]. This merger took place in August 1974, and by the end of that financial year, the combined group returned a small profit. It was noted that in 1974 Schreiber were the largest producer of domestic furniture in the UK[5].

In 1978 the company completed a new factory in Runcorn, Cheshire. The empty shell had been completed in 1974 to designs of Peter Carmichael of Runcorn Development Corporation Architects Department, and the finished factory was completed by him as partner in the architectural firm; Brock Carmichael Associates[6]. (The factory is now a supply depot for Howdens Joinery). In April 1982, the company sold Morphy Richards for £5 million to a holding company owned by the Throgmorton Trust; Capital for Industry.

In 1983, GEC Schreiber Limited was reconstructed, such that Hotpoint returned to being under the sole ownership of GEC and Schreiber Industries returned to being owned by the Schreiber family[7].

Bought by the MFI Group
Main article: MFI Group

Schreiber was acquired by the MFI Group in November 1988, and it sat alongside MFI's other well known household brands.[8]

Home Retail Group acquisition

After MFI went into administration in 2008, the Schreiber Furniture brand together with the Hygena UK and Irish brand rights were bought by the Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos and Homebase, in 2009[9] and relaunched through those chains.

Purchase by Sainsbury's

In April 2016, Home Retail Group agreed to a £1.4bn takeover by UK retailer Sainsbury's, including the rights to the Schreiber brand.[10] The acquisition was completed on 2 September 2016.

Operations

Current operations

The Schreiber brand is now owned by Sainsbury's and its products are now sold in the United Kingdom through Argos stores and the Argos website.

Former operations

Schreiber at Homebase

Following the 2016 sale of Homebase to Wesfarmers, all Schreiber branding was removed from both the Homebase stores and the Homebase website in mid-2017 when the agreement with Home Retail Group expires.

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References
  1. "Schreiber furniture". www.retrowow.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  2. Evening Standard, 6 August 1974.
  3. The Risk Business. (1981) BBC One Television, 30 October 1981.
  4. Evening Standard, 7 August 1974.
  5. The General Electric Company Limited (1975) Report and Accounts 31 March 1975. Available online at . Accessed 16 August 2019.
  6. RibaPix. RIBApix ref no. RIBA88474 - Schreiber factory phase 1, Astmoor Industrial Estate, Runcorn. Available online at . Accessed 28 April 2017.
  7. The General Electric Company plc. (1983) Review of Operations. Available online at . Accessed 16 August 2019.
  8. The Scotsman (2005). MFI dismantles businesses to make life more comfortable. The Scotsman, 1 December 2005.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-06-29. Retrieved 2013-04-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Sainsbury's wins battle to buy argos". Retrieved 1 April 2016.
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