Schofields (department store)

Schofields

Company type	Department store
Industry	Retail
Founded	1901
Defunct	1996
Fate	Takeover by House of Fraser
Headquarters	Leeds, England
Key people	Snowden Schofield

Schofields was a department store that operated on The Headrow in Leeds, England from 1901 to 1996. For much of the 20th century Schofields, alongside rival Lewis's, was regarded as being the pinnacle of shopping in Leeds City Centre. The site is now home to The Headrow Centre. Schofields also had department stores in Harrogate and Sheffield. The Sheffield store closed in 1982 and the Harrogate branch closed following the takeover by House of Fraser. The only visible evidence pointing to the existence of Schofields in Leeds is a NCP multi storey car park, located near to the former department store premises, on Albion Street that continues to use the name of 'Schofields Car Park' despite the demise of this department store.

History

The store was founded by Snowden Schofield on Saturday May 4th 1901 as a single unit and expanded in the following years into other units. The premises were originally a mixture of Victorian era buildings which included a shopping arcade, called the Victoria Arcade, running through the store.

The Leeds store was rebuilt in 1962 in a modernist style typical of the era. In September 1984 the business was sold to Clayform Properties Ltd who had intended to redevelop the site but in 1988 the store was sold to the Al Fayed brothers who also owned Harrods and were then owners of House of Fraser. Following this, the store, whilst retaining the Schofields name, became part of the House of Fraser chain . This led to the 1988 reconstruction of the 1960s store which included reducing the size of the actual store and creating an adjoining shopping centre which became known as the Schofields Centre. During the construction work Schofields was located on Briggate in a former Woolworths store. With the opening of the new Schofields in 1990 it was decided that the temporary store on Briggate would be retained by the company and be known as Rackhams, another trading name used by House of Fraser. The new Schofields on The Headrow closed down on the 27th July 1996 due to competition from the other House of Fraser store on Briggate and as a result of consolidation by House of Fraser as a whole. This Briggate store is now known simply as House of Fraser.

Schofield Centre

The new Schofields Centre opened with other retailers renting retail units. These included HMV and Marks & Spencer. Marks & Spencer had since closed due the to expansion of their premises on nearby Briggate and HMV had moved into the former M&S in about 1996.

The former Schofields premises which had become the Schofields Centre subsequently became known as The Headrow Centre. This centre had been occupied by Lillywhites sportswear retailer between 1996 and 2001 and was later occupied by several chain stores including Sports World, New Look and HMV. The Headrow Centre management has recently let most of the tenancy agreements run out in order to redevelop the premises in the hope of attracting more business. The decision to let tenancy agreements expire, whilst only giving the shops 28 days notice of the closure in most cases, has caused negative media comments to be directed towards the centre. Many of the stores that have been in the centre for up to 15 years are being forced to close down and the staff are being given very little time to find new jobs. It is also seen as the centre 'killing' off the small businesses in order to attract more chain stores. The renovations are estimated to take 18 months to complete and 10 stores will be remaining open while the work is going on. The new centre is projected to be finished by the spring 2009 and will be called The Core due to its place in the core of the city centre. It will be home to new stores and includes a large unit where the old food court used to be. A new food court seating 500 people will be located above New Look. The design features include the extensive use of glass.

External links

• Leodis: 1949 Image of first incarnation of Schofields
• Leodis: 1967 Image of 1962 - 1988 Schofields building
• Leodis: 1999 Image of former Schofields whilst it was a branch of Lillywhites
• Schofields on Discovering Leeds