Majestic Wine

Majestic Wine is the United Kingdom's largest specialist retailer of wine. The company employs over 1,000 staff nationwide, with two hundred stores in the United Kingdom, and two in France.
History.
1980 to 1999.
Majestic Vintners was founded by Sheldon Graner in 1980. Prior to Majestic Vintners, Graner gained worked as a merchandiser with the John Lewis group. The initial design logo for the company was based on a definitive set of King George V postage stamps of 1929. During the 1970s, laws regarding selling alcohol were restrictive in the United Kingdom. Majestic Vinters offered wine tastings and sold wine by the case to comply with the laws.
Graner opened his first wine warehouse in Harringay, North London, in 1980, under the management of Tony Mason, brought in by Graner to manage the day-to-day activities. The second store was opened in Battersea in May 1981. In the middle of 1981, the group called in receivers. Majestic's assets were bought from the receivers by Giles Clarke.
In August 1987, Majestic acquired Liquor Barn, a chain of 104 stores in California and Arizona. Following the disposal of the American business, Majestic Wine was sold for £15 million to investors in 1989.
In 1986, Tony Mason set up Wizard Wine under the same concept, which in 1987 was purchased by retailer Bejam. After Bejam was purchased by rival Iceland in January 1989, Mason and partners John Apthorp (now retired) and Tim How (CEO until 2008) bought Wizard Wine from the heavily indebted Iceland. In September 1991, Wizard Wine purchased Majestic Wine PLC in a leveraged buyout, and merged under the Majestic Wine Warehouses brand as a private company. Headquartered in Watford, Hertfordshire, under the leadership of Tim How (CEO until 2008), Majestic Wine became a public company in 1996, floating on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
2000 to 2019.
By 2016, Majestic Wine had 211 stores in the United Kingdom.
In June 2016, Majestic Wine announced a double digit sales boost since the purchase of "Naked Wines". 
In 2019, Majestic announced that the business would be restructured. The 'Majestic' business, including the two hundred stores, brand, Calais and on trade arms, was sold to private equity firm Fortress for £95m. Fortress re-hired John Colley as Chief Executive. Majestic Wines PLC was renamed to Naked Wines. Effectively, the previous shareholders of Majestic became shareholders of Naked Wines, and the Majestic business gained new shareholders.
2020 to present.
Today, Majestic Wine Warehouses operates as a wine retailer, selling a mixture of wine, champagne and spirits. Majestic's stores offer customers free tasting, free delivery and free glass hire.