23-481: Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is a British electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones. Established as a bicycle retailer in 1927, Currys expanded the range of goods sold and from the 1960s became a major retailer of household electrical items. In 1984
46-413: A French photographic business. In January 2008, DSGi announced that it would stop selling analogue televisions and only sell integrated digital televisions, in an effort to get consumers ready for the digital switchover . In May 2008, DSGi announced that it would close 77 of its 177 Currys.digital shops in the United Kingdom, as their building leases expired over the following five years. In May 2010,
69-589: A retail chain with 570 shops selling electrical and other household goods; Currys retained its separate brand identity. In February 1993, Dixons bought Vision Technology Group (VTG), operating under the PC World brand at Croydon , Lakeside Shopping Centre , Brentford and Staples Corner . Later that year, the company sold VTG's mail order division, Dixons US Holdings Inc and Supasnaps. The company opened its first duty free store at Heathrow Terminal 3 in 1994, and later that year launched phone store The Link ,
92-591: Is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the Nordic Countries with four hundred stores in six countries and 24,000 employees. Elkjøp was founded by Trygve Fjetland on 16 March 1962. It was purchased in November 1999 by Currys plc . Elkjøp owned stores for a time in the Czech Republic and Slovakia . The coined name Elkjøp translates from Norwegian as El purchase, where El
115-809: The Elkjøp umbrella, and it also operated Kotsovolos in Greece. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index . The company, formerly known as Dixons Group plc and later DSG International plc, specialised in selling mass market technology consumer electronics products, audio video equipment, PCs , small and large domestic appliances, photographic equipment, communication products and related financial and after-sales services such as extended service agreements, product set-up and installation, and repairs. Dixons
138-454: 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. 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
161-599: The Nottingham-based Campion Cycle Company. By the 1940s, the shops sold a wide variety of goods including bicycles, toys, radios and gramophones . Meanwhile, particularly under the directorship between 1967 and 1984 of Dennis Curry , grandson of Henry Curry, the company 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 had 570 shops, twice as many as
184-499: The Prinz brand was introduced in the 1950s, Dixons Retail has used a number of own brand names for products sold in its stores. Dixons' brand lineup underwent a major reorganisation during 2010. As of August 2013 , the brands in use include the following: Former businesses include: The following table shows the company's financial results: Elkj%C3%B8p Elkjøp , better known as Elgiganten outside Norway ,
207-543: The company secured almost exclusive rights to sell the Apple iPad . In June 2010, DSGi changed its name to Dixons Retail plc . In May 2014, Dixons announced a merger, that soon came to pass, with Carphone Warehouse ; the combined company would have market capitalisation of around £3.8 billion. Dixons thus became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dixons Carphone Holdings Limited, and was renamed to Dixons Retail Group plc. Sebastian James , who had been Dixons CEO since 2012,
230-545: The company was bought by rival retailer Dixons , and the Currys brand was used for all outlets of the combined company. From 2008, the business turned away from shops in town centres to larger out-of-town stores under the Currys PC World brand, combining the operations of Currys with Dixon's PC World under one roof; after the formation of Dixons Carphone in 2014, the stores gained Carphone Warehouse departments. It
253-571: The company which was then to acquire it. In 1984, Currys was taken over by Dixons (another electrical products retail chain, now Currys plc) but maintained its separate brand identity. In April 2006, Dixons Stores Group announced that its Dixons shops, except in Ireland and in duty-free areas in airports, would be rebranded as Currys.digital (later changed to Currys Digital). In Ireland, the Dixons shops were rebranded as Currys in August 2008. Before
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#1732771939618276-680: The company's entire portfolio in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Following reorganisations in 2020 and 2021, Dixons Carphone announced that the Currys PC World stores would be rebranded as Currys in October 2021. In December 2023, Currys' CEO Alex Baldock said of a planned rise in the National Minimum Wage , "We believe we are paying our colleagues well and we certainly intend to continue to. That said, for
299-527: The company's first venture into communications. The head office moved to Hemel Hempstead . In November 1996, Dixons bought DN Computer Services, a computer reseller business. It also acquired the retail assets of Harry Moore Ltd, an Irish electrical retailer. Cellnet bought a 40% stake in The Link in April 1997. Also that year, the Dixons website was launched. In 1998, Freeserve , a free Internet service,
322-489: The earliest opportunity. Dixons Retail began a trial combining Currys and PC World shops in 2008. During the Dixons Carphone Christmas 2015–2016 results update to shareholders, Sebastian James, group chief executive, 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
345-553: The end of the Second World War the business had been reduced to a single studio in Edgware . Stanley Kalms , the son of the founder, joined the business in 1948 and started advertising direct sales in the press, with postal ordering and delivery. In 1950, the company began to sell cameras. In 1957, it opened a head office to house the staff now dealing with 60,000 mail order customers and to centralise buying. Dixons
368-567: The largest electrical retailer in Russia and Ukraine , with an option to buy the rest by 2011 for US$ 1.9 billion (about £1 billion GBP). This option was not pursued, DSGi withdrawing their interest in April 2007. In May 2006, DSGi was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise . The company announced that the Dixons brand would continue purely online and that all high street stores would be rebranded Currys.digital . DSGi also bought 75% of Fotovista,
391-496: The retail industry as a whole, having a big hike in the 'national living wage' at the same time as an expected half a billion pound increase in the rates bill just shows how little the government appears to understand or care about this industry." Dixons Retail Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe, which merged with Carphone Warehouse in 2014 to create Dixons Carphone , which
414-539: Was announced in July 2021 that all Currys PC World stores would be rebranded to Currys. Henry Curry started to make bicycles in Painter Street Leicester in 1884, after leaving his previous employer N. Corah & Sons . Currys went public in 1927 when his four sons merged The Louth Bicycle Company, and the loose confederation of shops which the sons had run since their father's retirement in 1909, with
437-636: Was appointed as CEO of Dixons Carphone. As of 2014, Dixons had 530 outlets in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 322 in northern Europe. The company is structured according to the international locations of its businesses and brands, as detailed below: Brands comprise (40% of sales, largest market share in United Kingdom and Ireland): Brands comprise (32% of sales, largest market share in Nordic countries and Czech Republic): Brands comprise (13% of sales, largest market share in Greece): Since
460-644: Was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1962, changing its name at that time to Dixons Photographic Limited. It bought out competitors Ascotts in 1962, and Bennetts in 1964. In 1967, Dixons bought an 85,000 sq ft (7,900 m ) colour film processing laboratory in Stevenage . Charles Kalms was succeeded by his son Stanley in 1971. In 1972, Dixons bought another competitor, Wallace Heaton , and in 1974, it opened its Stevenage distribution centre. In 1984 Dixons acquired Currys ,
483-525: Was founded as a photographic studio by Charles Kalms and Michael Mindel in the High Street in Southend under the name of Dixons Studios Limited, a company registered in October 1937 with share capital of £100. The name Dixons, selected randomly from the telephone directory , was sufficiently short to fit above the small shop front. In the early 1940s, Dixons set up seven studios around London but by
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#1732771939618506-720: Was launched; it was later sold to France Telecom and renamed Wanadoo . Dixons bought Elkjøp , a Norwegian retailer, in November 1999. In October 2002, Dixons bought UniEuro, an Italian-based electrical retailer, and Genesis Communications, a mobile phone service provider. The company opened its first Electro World store in Hungary in February 2002. In October 2005, Dixons Group plc changed its name to DSG International plc . Further potential expansion came in April 2005, when DSGi bought an interest in Eldorado Group,
529-474: Was renamed Currys plc in 2021. In the United Kingdom, the company operated Currys , Currys Digital , PC World (with stores increasingly dual-branded 'Currys PC World'), Dixons Travel and its service brand Knowhow. At the time of the merger in 2014, Dixons Retail had 530 outlets in the United Kingdom and Ireland and 322 in Northern Europe. Its Nordic and central European business was operated under
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