William Low

William Low (popularly referred to as Willie Low's; latterly marketed as Wm Low) was a chain of supermarkets based in Dundee, Scotland, until it was bought out by Tesco for £257m in 1994.
As a group it was smaller than most of its competitors and often served small towns, although it still had several large supermarkets, including two in Dundee, and two in Perth. Most towns in the Tayside region had at least one large William Low store and it had branches throughout Scotland, North East England, Cumbria and Yorkshire. Tesco had to compete with a rival takeover bid from competitor J Sainsbury for the chain and, following the takeover, 57 of the William Low stores were converted to the Tesco fascia. Prior to this, there were only around 17 Tesco branches in Scotland.
At one stage, the company also ran a chain of frozen food stores known as Lowfreeze. Lowfreeze was sold in 1987 to Bejam, with Bejam being sold to rival Iceland in 1989.
History.
Early years.
The company was founded by William Rettie and James Low in 1868 ("The name consists of both the founder's names, one's first name and the other's surname"). James's brother, William, joined the shop in 1870, taking over the business some years later.
William Rettie's grandson, Philip, joined the company in 1948, becoming managing director in 1958 and chairman in 1980.
1976-1984 Expansion.
Wm Low almost doubled in size between 1976 and 1984 with sustained expansion and increased store sizes. In 1976, Wm Low had a total of of floor space which by 1984 had become . Wm Low also rose to be included as number 400 in the Times 1000, a list of top UK Companies in 1984, whereas in 1976 it was not even listed.
Takeovers and mergers.
In 1984, Wm Low attempted but failed to take over Hintons, which later became part of Safeway. In 1985, Wm Low took over Laws Stores at a cost of £7.1 million. Laws had a group predominantly based in the north-east of England with a portfolio of smaller stores than Wm Low. Wm Low proceeded to close unprofitable Laws stores in 1986.
In 1989, Wm Low attempted to take over Budgens, a move described by Budgens as a friendly merger and which had looked to be a done deal. This deal ultimately collapsed.
Also in 1989, James Millar of Wm Low approached John Apthorp, owner of Bejam Freezer Centres to explore the possibility of merging the two brands. John Apthorp explains that he could not see the idea going ahead as Wm Low were losing market share and the store portfolio did not lend itself well to the possibility of conversions to freezer centre formats. In 1987, Wm Low had sold its frozen food chain, Lowfreeze, to Bejam for £3.8 million.
1993-1994 Expansion.
It was Wm Low's aim to achieve a total of 61 stores and of sales area by the end of the 1994 financial year.
Expansion into the north and midlands of England was a priority, with the £12 million, Loughborough store opening in 1993. Amid huge publicity for price cuts on over 500 items, customers took their sleeping bags to await the opening of the store and claim their hamper, champagne and flowers. This was the company's foray into direct competition with Sainsbury.
Market share.
Wm Low was one of the market leaders in Scotland in terms of market share, which was 7.4% in 1981, rising to 10.4% in 1984 and then 12.7% in 1986. It then started to fall until the 1994 takeover by Tesco.
History of the takeover.
Competing bids.
The takeover battle for William Low started on 14 July 1994, when Tesco announced its formal bid of £156 million for the company to dramatically improve its Scottish portfolio and an assurance it would not cherry pick the best stores. J Sainsbury launched a counter-bid of £210 million but this would have led to a break up of the Wm Low portfolio as they had intended to maintain the best stores and dispose of the rest.
The Scottish market leader at the time, The Argyll Group - Safeway - announced in July 1994 that it would not be making a bid for Wm Low. Sainsbury was keen to gain a stronger foothold in Scotland, having only 3 stores in Scotland at the time of the bid. Tesco reacted with an improved offer of £247 million and Sainsbury's withdrew from the battle.
Tesco formally took over Wm Low on 2 September 1994 for a total sum of £257 million. Analysis at the time suggested that the Sainsbury bid was possibly a spoiler tactic as opposed to a serious takeover attempt.
The company had been independent for 126 years, having been founded in 1868. The purchase of Wm Low doubled Tesco's Scottish market share from 7.6% to 15.3% in 1995.
Financial performance: before and after.
Prior to the take over, sales had been falling at a rate of 6%, a figure that Tesco reversed to a growth of 20% by February 1996 and the former Wm Low stores contributed £11 million profit to the Tesco group.
Tesco quotes pre-tax profits prior to the takeover as being £17m in 1993 and £15m in 1994. The Scottish Business Insider quotes similar yearly figures:
Staff numbers prior to the takeover had been reasonably static, from 8799 employees in 1991 to 8981 in 1994.
Conversion to Tesco-formatted stores.
A re-fit programme followed and Tesco scanning tills were installed at every store by August 1995, with the refit being completed by the end of 1996 at a cost of £35 million.
Although the vast majority of old Wm Low stores have now been replaced with all-new Tesco stores, some branches retain some Wm Low format fixtures (e.g. open grid false ceilings and blue / pink tiling in toilets). This is evident in stores such as Inverness Metro, Campbeltown, Fort Willam, Helensburgh, St Andrews, Dalgety Bay, Rosyth, Monifeith, Kilmarnock and Haddington. This is despite the stores having undergone a couple of internal refits since the takeover. Tesco Banff is the last obvious Wm Low style store left in the portfolio, having not undergone any refit since immediately after the takeover in 1996. This store is due to be replaced by a new purpose built store in 2010. In 2014 Tesco scrapped plans to replace the Banff store along with other projects due to a huge loss in profits. Dundee Lochee which was the last large Wm Low superstore closed on 7 February 2009, being replaced by Dundee South Rd, which is spread out over 3 floors. Wishaw Tesco moved to a purpose built store in November 2007 across from its original Wm Low store.
Remaining stores.
Most of the remaining Wm Low stores have been converted to the Tesco "Metro" format, in line with their smaller size. Such stores can be found in Grangemouth, St Andrews, Campbeltown, Monifieth, Inverness, Fort William, Helensburgh and Stranraer.
Planned Wm Low store expansion.
At the time of the Tesco take over, a number of new Wm Low Stores were earmarked for development. These were ultimately launched as Tescos but had been planned by Wm Low. This included Aviemore, Cupar, Falkirk and Dunblane, opened between 1995 and 1996.
Redundant stores.
Some of the now redundant sites have gone on to find new owners after Tesco relocated in nearby areas. The former Wm Low stores in Dalkeith and Dingwall have now become branches of Lidl, Wm Low Blairgowrie became M&Co, whilst Wm Low Elgin became TK Maxx after the construction of a new Tesco store on the site of the former fire station. Wm Low Keith became The Original Factory Shop, Wm Low Forres remained empty until it was demolished in 2014. 
Wm Low Bathgate West Lothian became Tesco which relocated to a new purpose built store on the outskirts of Blackburn, West Lothian, the former Wm Low unit then became B Wise and Qs which both have since closed down. The site was a fairly large charity shop until December 2020 which has also since closed and the unit now remains empty.
Wm Low Dundee Lochee has now become The Range after Tesco relocated to Dundee South Road.
Wm Low in Perth (Victoria St branch) lay empty for almost a decade before half of the premises was refitted and operated as a Matalan Store and the other half (what used to be the supermarket warehouse) a store selling floor coverings and living-room furniture. As of July 2020, Matalan now occupies the entire building.
In 2007, the former Wm Low store in Forfar closed, with Tesco moving to a new site at the northern end of the town centre. The old site was subsequently sold to Focus DIY, whose store opened there in early 2008. The site has a garden centre, built on part of the old car park, and very little exists to suggest it was a former supermarket. As of 2016 the store is a now a branch of Home Bargains which now occupies the entire floor space and has re-opened the garden centre.
The former Wm Low store in Goole, East Yorkshire, was taken over by Tesco, but this was relocated to a larger site on Boothferry Road in the late 1990s. The store was split into four units and is now home to a branch of Home Bargains, Farmfoods and Sports Direct.
The store in Berwick-upon-Tweed became a Kwik Save, which in turn has closed and stood empty for years. It has now been demolished (2016) and controversial offices have been built on the site
The store in Consett (County Durham) was converted into Tesco, then Tesco relocated in the town to a larger store and the store now trades as a B&M home store.
The store in Felling, Gateshead, which was one of the newest store in the chain, became a Kwik Save store and closed in 2007 following the liquidation of the national chain in 1997. It remains empty as of 2021.
Distribution centres.
The Wm Low warehouse in Gateshead was closed in March 1995. The head office and Distribution Centre at the Dryburgh Estate in Dundee became the Tesco Customer Service Centre and one of two Scottish Distribution Depots for Tesco.
Wm Low Dryburgh Distribution Centre was built in the mid 1970s by Wm Low with an expected 25 years life span. In 2006, Tesco announced the closure of the Dundee depot to create a brand new centre in Livingston on the site of the former NEC factory, which would also replace the current distribution centre already based in Livingston (now open as of October 2007). The adjacent customer service centre was unaffected by the closure. The warehouse at Dundee was demolished in 2019.
Store portfolio.
The following is a list of Wm Low stores in existence immediately prior to the takeover by Tesco.
Scotland.
Banff, Bathgate, Blairgowrie, Bo'ness, Campbeltown, Carnoustie, Coatbridge, Craigmarloch, Crieff, Cumbernauld, Dalgety Bay, Dalkeith, Dingwall, Dumfries, Dunbar, Dundee (two), Dunfermline, Edinburgh (two), Elgin, Forfar, Forres, Fort William, Galloway, Govan (Paisley Road West), Grangemouth, Greenock, Haddington, Helensburgh, Inverness, Inverurie, Keith, Kilmarnock, Kirkcaldy, Kirkintilloch, Kirriemuir, Lanark, Linlithgow, Milngavie, Monifieth, Montrose, Oban, Perth (two: one on Victoria Street in the city centre and one on the Crieff Road; the original store was on South Street), Rosyth, St Andrews, Stranraer, and Wishaw.
In 1999, Tesco agreed to swap the Carnoustie, Dunbar and Kirriemuir stores with Lothian Borders & Angus Co-operative Society to gain a larger superstore in Galashiels.
England.
Consett, Driffield, Gateshead (Rowlands Gill), Goole, Ilkeston, Jesmond, Loughborough, Northallerton, Sleaford, Thirsk, Whitehaven, Workington.
Typhoid outbreak.
On 6 and 7 May 1964, the Aberdeen branch delicatessen used a tin of Argentinian corned beef that had not been processed properly (and was infected with typhoid). Due to the fact that the meat was sliced using a communal deli slicer, approximately 500 people were diagnosed in Aberdeen in 1964 with suspected typhoid. William Low was never successful in the city again with their branch closing in the city three years later.