Army and Navy Stores

1871 Incorporated as the Army and Navy Co-operative Society. The MD was Major F. Bradford McCrea and the directors included Captain Ernest Lewis (later MD for thirty years).

Leased part of a distillery premises in Victoria Street, London which was owned by Vickers and Co, and by February 1872 a store for the sale of groceries was opened on the site.

By 1873, the store offered stationery, drapery, fancy goods, tailoring, groceries, a chemist and even a guns department. The store proved too small for the growing business so the founding members rented a house next to their existing warehouse and acquired a further warehouse in Johnson Place.

1890 Stores were opened in Plymouth, and Bombay, India, while in 1891 a further store was opened in Karachi.

1934 Incorporated as the Army and Navy Stores. Showrooms and offices at 105 Victoria Street, Francis Street and Howick Place, Westminster SW1. Depots were listed in Union Street, Plymouth, Devon and in India at Esplanade Road, Bombay and Chowringhee, Calcutta. There was also a furniture depository and strong room at Turnham Green and an auction room at Greencoat Place SW1

1950-60s Purchased multiple independent department stores

Later branded as part of House of Fraser

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