Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare provider that operates across The United Kingdom and Ireland, with a focus on consumer electronics, white goods as well as mobile phones, computers and computers.
Established as a bicycle retailer around 1927. Currys broadened the selection of merchandise sold and then from the 1960s was a leading retailer of household electrical items. In 1984 , the company was bought by another retailer Dixons which meant that it was then that the Currys brand was used in every outlet of the company. Since 2008, the company has moved away from shops located in town centres , and expanded to bigger out-of-town locations under Currys PC World. Currys PC World brand. The Currys PC World brand was created, combining the operations of Currys together with Dixon’s PC World under one umbrella. Following the creation of Dixons Carphone in 2014, the stores were upgraded to Carphone Warehouse departments. The announcement was made in July 2021 that all Currys PC World locations would be rebranded to Currys.
History
The early years
Henry Curry started to make bicycles in Leicester in 1884. Currys was registered into a company in 1927 after his four sons joined The Louth Bicycle Company, and the loose association of shops that the sons had managed following their father’s retirement in 1909 with The city of Nottingham, which was the home for Campion Cycle Company.
By the 1940s, the shops sold a wide variety of items, including bicycles, toys, radios and gramophones.
Furthermore, especially under the directorship between 1967 between 1984 and 1967 that of Dennis Curry, grandson of Henry Curry, the company underwent considerable expansion to become a major retailer of white goods and televisions (refrigerators as well as washing machines as well as other appliances for the home); by 1984 Currys Group plc had 570 shops, nearly twice the number of shops owned by the company which was then to acquire it.
When it was founded in 1984, Currys became part of Dixons (another electrical products retail chain, now Currys Plc) but maintained its distinct brand identity. In April 2006, Dixons Stores Group declared that their Dixons stores, with the exception of Ireland and in duty-free zones in airports will be rebranded to Currys.digital (later changed into Currys Digital). In Ireland it was announced that the Dixons shops in Ireland were changed to Currys at the end of August in 2008.
Before the Dixons redesign, the company was a small chain with just a handful of town-centre shops compared to its much greater number of mega stores located out-of-town. The 17th January 2007 the group’s chief executive John Clare announced that when the leases for the remaining ‘Currys High Street’ stores (not the new Currys.digital shops) expired they would not be likely the leases would ever be renewed and consequently, the shops will close at the earliest opportunity.
Currys PC World
Dixons Retail began a trial which merged Currys and PC World shops in 2008. During the Dixons Carphone Christmas 2015-2016 results update to shareholders, Sebastian James, group chief executive, announced that during the next financial year, the “three-in-one” shop format (shops that carry Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse branding under one roof) will be introduced across the entire portfolio of the company in both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Revival of Currys as sole brand
After the reorganisations of 2020 and 2021, Dixons Carphone announced that the Currys PC World stores would be rebranded to Currys by the end of October in 2021.
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