A century of sales - Beales remembered

Image source, Bournemouth History Centre
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Beales department store was founded in 1881 on the Old Christchurch Road in Bournemouth and was initially know as the Fancy Fair and Oriental House.
Image source, Dorset History Centre
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The store was established by JE Beale, pictured here in 1926, and become one of Bournemouth's best known shops. He is credited with being the first retailer in Britain to have an in-store Santa at Christmas, which he introduced in 1885.
Image source, Dorset History Centre
Image caption,
The original premises was destroyed in an air raid during World War Two but the shop was rebuilt on the same site.
Image source, Dorset History Centre
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The company was known for treating its staff well with sports clubs and trips away.
Image source, Beales
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Beales was part of the 20th Century consumer boom, enticing shoppers with eight storeys of household goods, clothing and restaurants
Image source, Beales
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In its heyday Beale's played an important part in the town's business's culture and was a major employer. The company expanded with 23 stores across the country.
Image source, Keith Edkins
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The arrival of out-of-town shopping centres, online shopping and other pressures on high street retailers meant that Beales eventually went in to administration in 2020.
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The flagship Bournemouth store closed its doors in February 2020 along with other stores in the chain. New owners reopened in Poole's Dolphin Centre in August 2020, but announced it too would close in May 2025. It blamed the rise in the minimum wage and employers' National Insurance Contributions (NICs). It will bring to an end a major name in high street retail of more than140 years.

Stephen Stafford

BBC News

15 February 2025

For more than 140 years, Beales has been a familiar name on the high street, having opened its first store on Bournemouth's Old Christchurch Road in 1881.

Having expanded to 23 department stores across the country, the company went into administration in 2020.

With the announcement that its remaining store at Poole's Dolphin Centre will close in May, it brings an end to an era of high street retail.

Beales' photographic archive was handed to Dorset History Centre in 2020, including photographs, catalogues and rule books for employees and captures the changing face of shopping over almost a century and a half.

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A century of sales - Beales remembered

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