Currys

Currys was incorporated as a business in 1927 when the sons of bicycle manufaturer Henry Curry (whose business started in Leicester 1850) merged The Louth Bicycle Company, and the loose confederation of shops which the four sons had run since Henry Curry’s retirement in 1909, with the Nottingham based Campion Cycle Company.[2]

By the 1940s, the shops sold a wide variety of goods including bicycles, toys, radios and gramophones.[3] Currys pulled out of cycle manufacturing in 1932, when they closed their Leicester factory, but continued to retail bikes (badged as Currys) until the 1960s.

Meanwhile, particularly under the directorship of family member Dennis Curry between 1967 and 1984, Currys underwent considerable expansion to become a major high street supplier of televisions and white goods (refrigerators, washing machines and other domestic appliances); by 1984 Currys Group PLC (Currys) had 570 shops, twice as many as the company which was then to acquire it.[4]

Branch in the former branding in Grimsby, Lincolnshire

Currys adjacent to former rival Comet in Guiseley, West Yorkshire

Currys was taken over by Dixons (now Dixons Carphone, owners of the Dixons electrical products retail chain) in 1984, but maintained its separate brand identity. In April 2006, DSG announced that its Dixons shops (except in Ireland and in duty free areas in airports) would be rebranded as Currys.digital, making a total of 550 Currys shops in all.

However, in August 2008, the Dixons shops in Ireland were rebranded as Currys,[5] similar to the move in the United Kingdom, but without the ".digital" suffix and with a new Currys logo. Before the Dixons rebranding, the chain had only a few small town centre shops compared with its much greater number of large out-of-town megastores.

These shops are generally split into four main departments: computing, home entertainment, major domestic appliances and small domestic appliances. The shops are a mix of display products and self service sections. On 17 January 2007, group chief executive John Clare announced that when the leases on the remaining 'Currys High Street' shops (not the rebranded Currys.digital shops) expired, it would be unlikely that they would be renewed: thus the shops would be closed at the earliest opportunity.[6]

A combined Currys and PC World on The Headrow in Leeds

Dixons Retail began a trial combining Currys and PC World shops in 2008.[7] A number of shops have since been combined, with their shop formats merged into one. In some cases, this has also involved the physical knocking together of some shops which were adjacently located. All advertising for the electronics side of both chains has now been merged.

During the Dixons Carphone Christmas 2015 to 2016 results update to shareholders, Sebastian James, group chief executive for Dixons Carphone, revealed that over the following financial year the three-in-one shop format (shops featuring Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse branding under one roof) would be rolled out across the company's entire portfolio on the United Kingdom and Ireland.[8] The programme is expected to generate around £20 million of incremental annual earnings, due to recurring costs savings as a result of removing property from the portfolio.