Griffin & Spalding

The store was started in 1846 by brothers Edward and Robert Dickinson as a drapery store on the corner of Market Street and Long Row.[1] The store changed hand before Messrs W. Griffin and J.T. Spalding purchased the business in 1878. Mr Spalding had trained at the well known London department store Marshall & Snelgrove, and by 1888 had grown the business sufficiently enough to expand the business by purchasing neighbouring stores in Market Street and Long Row.[1] In 1924, the stores façade was rebuilt by Bromley and Watkins[2] with Portland stone, which hid the different buildings that lay behind (in 1978 there were 37 trading floors!).[1]

The business continued to be managed by the Griffin and Spalding families, with William A & Harold Spalding and Percy Griffin, the sons of the original owners running the day-to-day business.[1] The company had a variety of department, selling furnishings, clothes and household goods with the promise of offering 10 shillings to the first person who informed them that a competitor was selling an item cheaper. Another part of the business was providing furniture and fittings to cinemas, with a factory on Rutland Street providing interiors for theatres such as the Savoy (on Derby Road) and the Curzon (Mansfield Road).[1]

In 1944 the family accepted an offer from Debenhams,[3] who continued to trade under the Griffin and Spalding name until 1973, when the business was changed to Debenhams as part of a national re-branding scheme.[1] The store has been refurbished three times under the management of Debenhams, firstly in 1951 followed by 1988 and 1998 and is still part of the Debenhams group.[1]