Booths is a chain of high-end supermarkets in Northern England. Most of its branches are in Lancashire, but there are also branches in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester and North Yorkshire and a single branch in West Yorkshire in the town of Ilkley. It has been described as the "Waitrose of the North" by sources such as The Daily Telegraph. Booths has attempted to compete on quality as opposed to just price and has been developed on the motto "to sell the best quality goods in shops staffed by first class assistants".
History
E.H. Booth & Co. Ltd was founded in June 1847 when 19-year-old tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth opened a shop called The China House in Blackpool. In 1863, he added the sale of wines and spirits, and branches were opened in Lytham in 1879 and Blackburn in 1884. The business was incorporated as a private limited company in 1896. Edwin's son John opened cafes in the stores in 1902 and invited all staff to become shareholders in 1920. It has remained owned by the Booth family and staff ever since, comprising over 250 shareholders in 2011 and with no individual having more than 12% of the total shares. The current chairman, Edwin J. Booth, is the fifth generation. In a feature article in The Guardian in 2008, David Webster, the former chairman and co-founder of Britain's Safeway chain, said that he had tried to buy out Booths several times over the years, as did several of his rivals, adding "one thought Booths would have disappeared ages ago but it jolly well hasn't. It is obviously doing an outstanding job for its customers". In 2008, Booths were under pressure by Waitrose with rumours of a takeover, which was later 'ruled out'. Booths and Waitrose then formed a buying group together. From beginning as a tea shop in Blackpool, Booths grew into the first chain of supermarkets in the area, and even though it has now been eclipsed by bigger supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury's, it boasted 28 stores across the region in 2016.
Today
In 2006 Booths achieved second place in the list of the World's Greatest Food Retailers. The panel of top designers, architects, analysts, journalists, suppliers and retailers was brought together by national trade publication, The Grocer, and asked to rank their favourite food retailers from anywhere in the world. They were impressed by the quality of the company's offer, its focus on local sourcing and head for innovation. Simon Bell, retail director of foodservice firm Leathams, voted Booths' Chorley store first above Selfridges in London. He applauds its excellent customer service, knowledge of products and friendly staff. In June 2005 the current Chairman, Edwin J Booth, was awarded the BITC Prince of Wales Ambassador Award for North West England. This is given to individuals whose leadership and commitment to responsible business practice and the actions they have taken personally have created a positive impact both inside their company and on the wider society. He was also finalist for the Ernst & Young Master Entrepreneur of the Year. A new head office was opened in early 2006 in Ribbleton, Preston and includes environmentally friendly features, such as using rainwater to flush the toilets. In 2011 Booths opened two new stores in MediaCityUK and Penrith, Cumbria. A new Booths store in Milnthorpe opened on 14 November 2012 and one in Barrowford opened on 4 December 2014. A branch opened in July 2015 in Burscough, followed by a store in St Annesin September and had renovated their store in Poulton-le-Fylde. Booths commissioned Small World Consulting to research its carbon footprint and the resulting report was published in 2012. In 2015 Booths was named Independent Retail Chain of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards. In February 2017 the chain launched a luxury hampers and gift website. As of 11 October 2017AmazonFresh sell a range of Booths branded products for home delivery in selected areas. In November 2017 it was reported that the supermarket had been put up for sale for between £130m and £150m, but this was later dismissed as "speculation" by the firm.
In May 2014, the store rebranded its own-label milk as 'Fair Milk', increasing its farmgate milk price to a yearly average of 34.4 pence per litre, and thus paying farmers more for their milk than any other UK supermarket. Booths became a finalist in the BITC awards for this campaign in early 2015, presented by Alan Kirby, Jane Green and 'Fair Milk' producer, Claire Barber. As part of Muller’s Project Darwin, Booths refused to enter into negotiations to pay a fair price to the processor. A breakdown of communication lead to Muller giving Booths Notice and the scheme ceased to operate on the 15th of April 2020.
Cafe 1847
The Artisan speciality food shop and restaurant is a recent development by Booths. The first one was located at the Kendal store, its range is mainly local produce from small producers.
