The company was founded in 1899 by William Morrison, who started the business as an egg and butter merchant in Rawson Market, Bradford, England, operating under the name of Wm Morrison Limited. His son Ken Morrison took over the company in 1952, aged 21. In 1958, Morrisons opened a small shop in the city centre.
In 2016 Morrisons released a new logo. It rid itself of the capital “M”, the green colour introduced in 2007 and the geometric style of the font. Instead, the wording “Since 1899” appeared at the bottom as a reference to the company's heritage and a tree with yellow leaves growing out of the letter “i”.
The grocer was acquired by CD&R in October 2021 for £7 billion, in a debt-fuelled deal led by former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy. The deal saw £6.1 billion of debt piled onto Morrisons' balance sheet, resulting in large interest payments and high exposure to increases in borrowing rates.
What makes Morrisons different from other supermarkets?
Our business is predominantly food and grocery focussed and uniquely, we source and process half of the fresh food that we sell in our own manufacturing facilities and stores which gives us close control over provenance and quality.
How the buyout of Morrisons turned into a costly blunder | FT Due Diligence
Who is Morrison named after?
First of all, the surname Morrison is a patronymic which means 'the son of Morris' or 'the son of Maurice'. The Normans brought the name Maurice, Latin for Moorish, to Britain and over time the name changed to Morris.
The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) in October 2021. Many changes were made after the takeover, and the company was struggling financially.
Weaknesses. Loss of market share – As the discounters continue to gain market share from the big four, Morrisons' position has continued to be eroded and, from a peak of well over 12%, is now languishing at just the 10% mark.
Tesco is the largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. However, discounters Lidl and Aldi have grown rapidly. A number of sources reported that in September 2022, Aldi overtook Morrisons to become Great Britain's fourth largest grocery retailer.
In 1965, the Asquith brothers approached Associated Dairies to run the butchery departments within their small store chain. A merger was proposed and the Asquiths' business was joined with Noel Stockdale's to form a new company, Asda (Asquith + Dairies) (capitalised from 1985).
Morrison took over his father's market business in 1952 and opened his first shop in 1958, gradually expanding until the group went national through the acquisition of the Safeway chain in 2004.
// Aldi's sales rose by 18.7% over the 12 weeks to 4 September 2022, reaching a 9.3% market share. Aldi has overtaken Morrisons to become the UK's fourth-largest supermarket group over the last three months as shoppers tightened their purse strings.
On 12 January 1948, three years after the end of the Second World War, in a rundown still-rationed Britain, shoppers in East London's Manor Park were treated to the opening, by the Co-op, of the country's first permanent self-service store.
“Amazon and Morrisons have had a partnership since 2016 and there has always been speculation that Amazon would bid for the supermarket to significantly expand its grocery offering.
Our story began when egg and butter merchant William Morrison started our business with a market stall. He's inspired us ever since to innovate and lead the way in supermarket retailing.
For more than six months it ranked as the most expensive out of the main six supermarkets we price checked with a weekly comparison and shoppers even accused the retailer of 'taking the mick' by hiking prices unnecessarily.
Our colleagues 'Make Morrisons'. They are the life and soul of our business. So, everyone here is valued, trusted, treated with respect and enjoys great perks and a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.
When he discovered a newspaper article about a painter and retired schoolteacher Ludwig Lidl, he bought the rights to the name from him for 1,000 German marks. Lidl is part of the Schwarz Group, the fifth-largest retailer in the world with sales of €104.3 billion (2018).
Richard Petyt, who advises Morrisons as a partner at property consultancy Knight Frank, said the closures were “general retailer housekeeping” as part of an estate rotation programme that also included “a new store pipeline for the next two or three years in the double digits”.
The Tesco brand first appeared in 1924. The name came about after Jack Cohen bought a shipment of tea from Thomas Edward Stockwell. He made new labels using the initials of the supplier's name (TES), and the first two letters of his surname (CO), forming the word TESCO.
All Morrisons Café staff have been fully trained on the initiative and will know exactly what you're asking for, whether you say, “is Henry here”, “Henry”, “can I have a Henry”, “can I ask for Henry” or similar; Henry is the code word to use to unlock a free meal.
The British Safeway was founded in 1962 by the American Safeway Inc., before being sold to Argyll Foods in 1987. It was later listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was purchased by Morrisons in March 2004. Most of its 479 shops were rebranded as Morrisons, with others being sold.
