46 Facts About J Sainsbury

In 1956, Alan J Sainsbury became chairman after the death of his father, John Benjamin J Sainsbury.

In June 1995, J Sainsbury's announced its intention to move into the Northern Ireland market, until that point dominated by local companies.

In 1992, the long time CEO John Davan J Sainsbury retired, and was succeeded as chairman and chief executive by his cousin, David J Sainsbury ; this brought about a change in management style – David was more consensual and less hierarchical, but not in strategy or in corporate beliefs about the company's place in the market.

In 1994, J Sainsbury's announced a new town centre format, J Sainsbury's Central, again a response to Tesco's Metro, which was already established in five locations.

Also that year, David J Sainsbury dismissed Tesco's clubcard initiative as 'an electronic version of Green Shield Stamps'; the company was forced to backtrack, introducing its own reward card eighteen months later.

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Much of the 20th century, J Sainsbury's had been the market leader in the supermarket sector in the United Kingdom, but in 1995, it lost this position to Tesco.

David J Sainsbury announced management changes, involving the appointment of two chief executives, one in charge of supermarkets within the United Kingdom and the other responsible for Homebase, and the United States.

Finally, in 1998, David J Sainsbury himself resigned from the company to pursue a career in politics.

On 14 January 2000 J Sainsbury's reversed this decision by announcing the replacement of Adriano by Sir Peter Davis effective from March.

In 2001, J Sainsbury's moved into its current headquarters at Holborn, London.

The building was designed by architectural firm Foster and Partners, and had been developed on the former Mirror Group site for Andersen Consulting ; J Sainsbury's acquired the 25-year lease when Accenture pulled out.

In May 2004, J Sainsbury's announced that it would acquire fourteen of these shops, thirteen Safeway shops and one Morrison's outlet, located primarily in the Midlands and the North of England.

Also in 2004 J Sainsbury's expanded its share of the convenience shop market through acquisitions.

In May 2007, J Sainsbury's identified five areas of growth: Growth of non-food ranges; opening of new convenience shops and growth of online home delivery and banking operations; Expansion of supermarket space through new shops and development of the company's "largely underdeveloped shop portfolio"; and "active property management".

In January 2008, J Sainsbury's brought the number of its supermarkets in Northern Ireland to eleven, with the purchase of two Curley's Supermarkets in Dungannon and Belfast.

In November 2007, J Sainsbury's centralised its HR department, relocating to the 17th and 18th floors of the Manchester Arndale Centre to form a Shared Service Centre, which was initially trialled to deal with Recruitment in Scotland and was later rolled out to the whole of the United Kingdom.

In March 2009, J Sainsbury's reached an agreement to buy 24 shops from The Co-operative Group, 22 of which were Somerfield shops, which the group were required to sell as a condition of their takeover of Somerfield.

In May 2010, J Sainsbury's confirmed a multimillion-pound deal with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to be the main sponsor of the 2012 Paralympic Games.

Under the deal, J Sainsbury's sold Paralympic merchandise and became involved in high-profile events, such as the torch relay.

On 30 November 2011, J Sainsbury's reached the first milestone in its Vision for 2020, by opening its thousandth self-service shop in Irvine, Scotland.

In November 2016, J Sainsbury's announced its intention to cut £500 million of costs from its business.

In January 2018, J Sainsbury's announced proposals to overhaul shop management structures which would result in job losses 'in the thousands'.

On 1 February 2018, J Sainsbury's announced the purchase of Nectar from Aimia for £60 million; this gave full control of all Nectar data to J Sainsbury's.

In March 2018, J Sainsbury's announced that it would be increasing the base rate of pay for its staff to retain the best workers.

In November 2020, J Sainsbury's stated that up to 3,500 jobs were at risk due to the closure of supermarket counters and the closure of further Argos standalone stores.

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In March 2020, due to the declaration of the UK lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the panic buying that followed as a result, J Sainsbury's supermarkets allowed shoppers to buy no more than three of each food item, to ensure all visitors have access to the products they need.

From 1980 onwards J Sainsbury's operated its own forecourts and sourced its own fuel.

Frozen foods RDC at Elstree in Hertfordshire closed with J Sainsbury's relocating to a new national distribution centre at Pineham, just outside Northampton.

In 1989 J Sainsbury's bought out BHS's stake, but still allowed BHS to retail from SavaCentres until it offered its own clothing and merchandise offering.

In 2002, J Sainsbury's opened an experimental shop in the Bluebird Building in Chelsea, London.

In 2011, J Sainsbury's opened a trial food to go shop in Fleet Street London selling sandwiches, baguettes and hot snacks in an effort to expand its business into new areas of opportunity.

In 2020, J Sainsbury's began to rebrand some in-store cafes to " Fresh Kitchen".

In 2013 J Sainsbury's re-entered the UK telecommunications industry when it launched a mobile phone network called Mobile by J Sainsbury's.

However, in 2015 J Sainsbury's announced that the service would be closing in January 2016 after a breakdown in the relationship with its provider Vodafone.

The service, free to J Sainsbury's customers, claimed to list 15,000 different packages.

In July 2015 J Sainsbury's announced it was selling its 281 pharmacies to Lloydspharmacy for £125 million with all 2500 pharmacy employees being transferred and new rent agreements being made.

In 2006, J Sainsbury's opened a Convenience store at Birchanger Green services, operated by owners Welcome Break.

Old external signage bearing the 'J Sainsbury' name was still to be found in use as recently as summer 2011 in Swindon, Ashbourne in Derbyshire and Blackheath, West Midlands.

From April 2015, J Sainsbury's halved the number of points that customers earned for every pound, to one point per pound.

On 1 February 2018, J Sainsbury's announced that it had acquired all assets, staff, systems and licences required for the full and independent operation of the Nectar loyalty programme in the UK through the acquisition of the shares of Aimia Inc's UK business for £60m.

Until 2017, J Sainsbury's ran an annual voucher scheme for local organisations to redeem against equipment for sports and other activities.

Customers earned vouchers from their shopping which they donated to an organisation of their choice, who then redeemed the vouchers with J Sainsbury's, crediting their account with points to spend on items from a catalogue.

When J Sainsbury's opened its new supermarket in Kingston upon Thames on part of the site of the former Kingston Power Station in the 2000s, a decision was made to name a new road leading to the supermarket "Sury Basin", a pun on the name of "Surrey" but in fact an anagram of the company's name.

In 2010, J Sainsbury's opened seven food colleges that teach fishmongery, butchery, breadmaking and confectioning.

In 2007, J Sainsbury's was fined £26 million for its involvement in a dairy product cartel.

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Divine Chocolate, an ethical trading company part-owned by cocoa farmers in Ghana, said J Sainsbury's move was tipping the balance back in favour of retailers.