WH Smith name to disappear from High Street after sale

Since the Victorian era, a staple of the centers of the UK city is set to disappear from the high street, as the firm has agreed to sell its shops to Hobiraft-Malik Modella Capital.

The new owner has said that he will keep the post office outlets working in many branches, but will resume high street chain in the form of TGjone.

WH Smith’s name is not being sold and will still be used at airports, railway stations and hospital outlets which are not even for sale.

Modela will take more than 480 stores on high roads including Capital Retail Park, Shopping Center and 5,000 employees.

The new owner stated that this “trade would be as usual”, while it worked on changing the store chain, including adding new range, while the toys “R” keeping US concessions and 195 post office counters.

Modella will not comment on whether jobs will be cut after acquisition. However, retail analysts stated that they hoped that private equity firms closely look at the performance of shops they purchased.

Modella is an expert in retail and consumer businesses. Along with buying hobbikraft last year, it has invested in the shopkeepers and original factory shops of the craftsmen.

It said that it had chosen the name TGZon as it took the “similar spirit of the family” as WH Smith, which it described as a “iconic” retail trade.

WH Smith’s first shop was opened in 1792 in Little Grosvenner Street, London and the company became the country’s leading newspaper distributors.

It opened its first travel retail store at Euston Station in London in 1848. This was followed by rapid expansion in the years after the war and made the range of goods wider on sales.

In the 1970s, it leaned into the style of the era with a new brown and orange logo.

Browsing, art supply, art supply, photograph album or sweets for browsing shoppers from stocking teenagers to shoppers on flashcards, pencil cases and other back-to-school items, Smith successfully appealed to a wide range of customers for decades.

As the UK started the era of personal computer, WH Smith continued to attract new customers, eager to experience the very latest technology in the 1980s.

But in recent years it has been challenged by the budget high road shops and supermarkets as well as online retailers.

While trading under its recent blue and white logo, it developed a reputation for run-down and shabby, concluding in a popular social media account WHS_CarPet, which made fun of the poor state of its floor covering.

The WH Smith Group Chief Executive Carl Cowling stated that the sale of £ 76 meters was a “important moment” for the company, which would now especially focus on the travel-related side of the business.

“High Street is a good business; it is beneficial and cashless with an experienced and high -performing management team,” he said.

“However, given our rapid international development, now a new owner has the right time to take a high road business forward.”

The travel division operates more than 1,200 stores in 32 countries.

Consultancy, Nicholas, found in retail economics, said that WH Smith’s travel branch became its “engine room”, contributing 75% of the group’s revenue and 85% of its business gains in 2024.

“Its product mixture, including food, beverages and techniques, is better for high-margins, impulse-powered purchases in the busy transit hub,” he said.

He hoped that the new owner would “have a laser focus on cost and profitability”.

He said, “WH Smith Store usually contains small leases, which opens up the opportunity to streamlined the unprofitable shops, especially as many high road locations as expensive investment in the form of high road locations, so have been lean for a long time,” he said.

Catherine Shuttleworth in Retail Consultancy Sevi said that keeping the chain will provide “a lifeline” for many high roads.

He said, “It remains to be seen what the new owners will do with space, but it seems that there are opportunities to transfer high road sales in the hobbikraft, maximizing opportunities with young shopkeepers who are looking for crafting inspiration,” he said.

Susanah Streater at Hargravs Lansdowne said that the new branding will take time to establish.

“It will take time to resonance with the British public, and many people will mourn the loss of a high road brand that has been a center for shopkeepers for more than two centuries.

“Nevertheless, it is certain to pay attention to how new owners can help revive sales, and what products sold will be at more competitive price, to help the chain to a corner.”