Robbs of Hexham Saved

ferret4media · Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 11:26 am Post subject: Robbs of Hexham Saved

Hi all,

Here's the article following the one I did about the last days of Robbs, as promised. I apologise for the delay in this and the other articles I pitched, I've been poorly this week :cry: Those other articles will follow very shortly.

Hope you like this one....

Robbs Of Hexham - Saved

Hexham breathed a sigh of relief when Robbs received a reprieve from certain closure. The announcement was made following tense last minute negotiations that Robbs of Hexham was saved by the owner of the company whose massive debts nearly spelt the end for the historical department store.

David Thompson, who purchased Robbs' parent company Owen Owen in 2005, bought back the store under his new company name Vergo Retail Limited. Debts of over £6 million that had forced the former company into liquidation earlier this year would be written off. This would probably be of no concern to the 140 employees of the store who had endured almost a month of uncertainty and the townsfolk which the loss of Hexham's first and most famous department store would be like the bereavement of someone who has always been a part of their life.

William Robb opened the first, tiny, store in 1818 after falling in love with the town during his many excursions from Leith in Scotland to sell his Linens in the market. His descendants kept the business in the family and evolved it through increasingly larger premises until it moved to the south end of Fore Street in 1928 opposite its present site.

Under the careful management of the fondly remembered Derek Robb, a victim of Polio whose circuits of the store in his electric wheelchair were a regular sight, expanded the store over the road, stretching it between the prime shopping streets of Priestpopple and Fore Street. After further extension in the seventies the department store acquired its own Hairdressing Salon and traders such as WH Smith, Topshop and Topman, Burton and Bay Trading flocked to set up concessions.

Following financial difficulties in 1986 Robbs was merged with Joplings of Sunderland and a year later both stores sold to the Merchant Retail Group effectively ending the Robbs dynasty in all but name. During the nineties Robbs flourished and soon expanded into a sister store, Tynedale Park. Both stores brought customers into the town from far and wide until 2004 when in a shock move Merchant Retail put both stores up for sale. Tesco snapped up Tynedale Park and the Liverpool-based Owen Owen took over Robbs along with its staff.

As an ex-staff member at Robbs myself as well as a lifelong resident of Hexham I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am that we are no longer going to lose this vital and intrinsic but altogether too easy to under-appreciate aspect of this town. Whether you just used the store as a shortcut between streets on a rainy or cold day, idly passed time inside its many departments or used its warm, spacious interior as a meeting place for yourself and your friends it is unlikely that anyone who has spent a good chunk of their lives in Hexham hasn't made use of, and enjoyed, Robbs of Hexham - and will continue to for many years to come.

ends

pickles · MyVillage Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 291 Location: Kernow

excellent, excellent.

great stuff stuart. minor tweek here and there.

here's your link:
http://www.myvillage.com/hexham/fe-community_last-days-of-robbs-of-hexham.htm

linked from hexham home page today, and randomly over next two months, plus community home page.

it's great to see that locals have also been getting on board and posting their comments onto the end of your article - take a look.

thanks very much. and look forward to hearing from you soon.

best wishes

s