Silk Shop: Newcastle

The exterior of the Silk Shop, Newcastle

The first specialist shop in the Partnership

On the week of 27th November 1943, the John Lewis Partnership acquired the business of the Silk Shop Limited of Newcastle and Edinburgh. Although the Partnership had at this point acquired over 15 other stores since 1940, this was the first assimilation of specialist shops into the growing collection. The Silk Shop Newcastle had been opened in 1922 by Mr W. A. Brearley, and was located on New Bridge Street. The old shop was very small, yet business was thriving and working hours were long. On the average Saturday, the shop was open from 9am to 8pm. The shop capitalised on the meteoric rise of artificial silk as a commercial proposition and a commodity. With comparable quality to real silk, the affordable prices brought visitors in their droves.

The Silk Shop and Bainbridges

It was this success that encouraged the Silk Shop management to open up a branch in Edinburgh in 1927. Ten years later the Silk Shop to Pilgrim Street, one of the main shopping streets in Newcastle. The shop was now a 3 minute walk from a shop called Bainbridges. Despite the difficulties of the war years, trading remained excellent and the store’s reputation strong. Prior to the war, turnover stood at £30 000 a year, but once the war started, turnover doubled by 1942. It was the retirement of Mr W.A Brearley in 1943 that opened the door for Partnership takeover.

During the rise of the Silk Shop into one of the most respected and revered companies in Newcastle, another shop was making its own splash. Bainbridges of Newcastle was turning a huge number of heads. Said to be one of the oldest department stores in the world, it was also one of the UK’s most prominent by the 1950s. The Partnership acquired Bainbridges in 1953.

Being only three minutes from each other, it made immediate sense to bring the Silk Shop under the Managing Directorship of Bainbridges. The close proximity of the stores had little impact on trading in the smaller shop, in fact one business intended to compliment the other. However even at this stage there were rumours about the assimilation of the Silk Shop into Bainbridges. In an all-encompassing department store that was growing bigger all the time, the need for the Silk Shop was dwindling fast.

In 1970, it was confirmed that a new site for Bainbridges had been located on Eldon Square. With a brand-new store to be built on the new site, there was no longer a need for a seperate Silk Shop. Trading from Silk Shop Limited ceased on 1st February 1974.

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