M & S Hammersmith Celebrates 100 Years of Trading

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With special family events and a trip down memory lane on Thursday

 

Marks & Spencer Hammersmith is celebrating its 100 year anniversary of trading on Thursday August 22, with a special centenary event for customers and a trip down memory lane of the store’s history.

The Hammersmith store will be marking the occasion with a range of activities and entertainment between noon and 3pm, offering fun for the whole family, including food tastings and local musicians performing live, as well as M&S prize giveaways taking place throughout the day.

Customers will have the chance to learn more about the 129 year history of M&S, from its beginnings as a Penny Bazaar market stall to an international retailer, courtesy of the M&S Company Archive.

A temporary Marks in Time exhibition will showcase the brand’s heritage, including imagery, documents and examples of products sold throughout the company’s history, as well as the first ever employee uniform.

Ian O’Sullivan, Store Manager at M&S Hammersmith, say: “We are really looking forward to welcoming Hammersmith’s shoppers into store to celebrate this important milestone with us. M&S Hammersmith may have changed since we were a Penny Bazaar 100 years ago, but we are one of the longest standing retailers in the community and we’re very proud of the fact that we’ve been serving Hammersmith for 100 years.”

Among the long serving employees is Julie Hynd, who became manager of the Hammersmith store in March 1980. Julia was the first woman store manager in M&S for many years. “I joined the company because I was interested in store life. I always knew I wanted to be a store manager and I never changed my mind. I never regretted the transition from teaching to M&S,” she says.

Hammersmith Penny Bazaar opened in 1914 at 74 King Street, when Marks & Spencer purchased the Hammersmith London Penny Bazaar from J & L Easterman. M&S Penny Bazaars retained the policy used by Michael Marks in his original market stall in Leeds of selling almost everything for one penny.

Demand for M&S goods in Hammersmith continued to grow, and it soon became clear that larger premises were required. In 1932 the store moved for the first time. The new store opened at 27-33 King Street on 16 September 1932.

The M&S Company Archive has a collection of over 70,000 historic items and was unveiled at the University of Leeds’ Michael Marks Building in March 2012. A permanent exhibition, celebrating the role that M&S has played in peoples’ lives since 1884, is available at the M&S Company Archive in Leeds.

The exhibition charts the development of the iconic British retailer from its roots at Kirkgate Market to the present day. The exhibition is free and more details can be found on the M&S Company Archive - website.

Free learning resources are available here .

 

 

August 21, 2013