Identity area
Reference code
AR389
Title
Date(s)
- 1888 - 1973 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
4 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Grants department store was founded by Mr Richard Grant and his brother Mr William Grant in 1877, as a modest drapery business at no. 17 Croydon High Street (then No. 8). The family lived above the shop, but within a few years they needed to expand the shop into the back garden. Later still, the shop expanded into part of the Greyhound Inn. In order to prevent the prospering business from further expansion, local traders bought the adjoining property, causing the Grant family to buy No. 16, over the road for their expansion.
When the High Street was widened, the store was rebuilt over the road, (the West side) in Numbers 14,16, 18 and 22. soon afterward they bought Numbers 20, 24 ,28, 28, 30 and 30A.
By this time the store had over 60 departments, including Hairdressing Salons, China, Glass, Hardware, Restaurants, and outside catering.
Richard Grant died aged 75 in January 1924.
The stores next expansion, in October 1929, was just behind the store, near Surrey Street, and was opened in October 1931.
William Grant died on the 3rd of March 1931 aged 79. William and Richard Grant left behind 3 sons between them, R. Donald Grant, W. H. Goss Grant, and Sidney T. Grant, who all ran the store together after their fathers deaths.
In 1959 Grants became a public limited company.
In 1960, when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Croydon, the Grants store provided the afternoon tea, which was hosted by the mayor.
The Grant family sold the store in 1983, and it finally closed in 1987.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Accession Number: 389
Grant Bros. records
Very miscellaneous and incomplete collection of material, including wages book (1910-12), scrapbook, leaflets and photographs. Handlist on accession file.
Depositor's Name: Grant Bros. Department Store
Accession date: c.1985
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Very miscellaneous and incomplete collection of material, including wages book (1910-12), scrapbook, leaflets and photographs.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Some of the records in our collections contain sensitive and personal data that we have a legal responsibility to control access to. In these circumstances, staff may search the collection on your behalf, having received consent or proof of death of the individual concerned.
Please contact us at archives@croydon.gov.uk for further information regarding the particular collection you wish to access.
You can make a request for information which may be in a closed record under the Freedom of Information Act, 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations, 2004. For more information about making a request, see the Croydon Council website (www.croydon.gov.uk). Making a request does not guarantee access to the information you ask for, as there may be a valid exemption from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
GB-352-ar389
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
24/06/2015