For the American entrepreneur, businessman and trader, see William Henry Low.
William Low & Co plc
Wm Low store in Whitehaven, Cumbria (1994)
Industry
Retail
Founded
1868
Founder
James Low William Low William Rettie
Defunct
2 September 1994
Fate
Taken over by Tesco
Successor
Tesco
Headquarters
Dundee, Scotland, UK
Key people
Philip Rettie Ian Stewart James Millar[1]
Products
Groceries
Number of employees
8,981[2]
Subsidiaries
Lowfreeze McTatties
William Low & Co plc, popularly referred to as Willie Low's and latterly marketed as Wm Low,[3][4] was a chain of supermarkets headquartered in Dundee, Scotland. Initially founded in 1868, Low's had branches throughout Scotland, North East England, Cumbria and Yorkshire. As a group, it was smaller than most of its competitors and often served small towns, although it still had several large hypermarkets.[5] Low's use to trade on their Scottishness as a unique selling point in Scotland.[6] At one stage, the company also ran a chain of frozen food stores known as Lowfreeze.[6] Lowfreeze was sold in 1987 to Bejam.
The remaining business was purchased by Tesco for £257M in 1994. Tesco had to compete with rival competitor Sainsbury's for the chain, with both companies looking to expand their foothold in Scotland. Following on from the takeover, the 57 William Low stores were converted to Tesco. Prior to this, there were only around 17 Tesco branches in Scotland. The purchase of Wm Low by Tesco moved them to the largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, beating Sainsbury's for the first time.[7]
^Agriculture in Scotland. H.M. Stationery Office. 1985. p. 14.
^Cite error: The named reference csrs_ac_uk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"From Woolies to Willie Lows: Lost shops of Inverness in six photos". Press and Journal. 30 April 2023.
^"WM Low & Co plc". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
^Hypermarkets and Superstores. A World Survey. Euromonitor Publications Limited. 1983. p. 13.
^ abSparks. L (1 October 1995). "Restructuring Scottish grocery retailing: the rise and demise of Shoprite and Wm Low". International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. 23 (10): 28–36. doi:10.1108/09590559510102469.
^Nigel Piercy (2002). Market-led Strategic Change. A Guide to Transforming the Process of Going to Market. Elsevier Science & Technology Books. p. 712. ISBN 9780750652254.
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