William Low was a chain of supermarkets based in Dundee, Scotland, until it was bought out by Tesco for £257M in 1994.
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12 Facts About William Low
2.
James's brother, William Low, joined the shop in 1870, taking over the business some years later.
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3.
Wm William Low almost doubled in size between 1976 and 1984 with sustained expansion and increased store sizes.
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4.
Wm William Low rose to be included as number 400 in the Times 1000, a list of top UK Companies in 1984, whereas in 1976 it was not even listed.
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5.
In 1984, Wm William Low attempted but failed to take over Hintons, which later became part of Safeway.
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6.
In 1989, Wm William Low attempted to take over Budgens, a move described by Budgens as a friendly merger and which had looked to be a done deal.
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7.
Also in 1989, James Millar of Wm William Low approached John Apthorp, owner of Bejam Freezer Centres to explore the possibility of merging the two brands.
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8.
John Apthorp explains that he could not see the idea going ahead as Wm William Low were losing market share and the store portfolio did not lend itself well to the possibility of conversions to freezer centre formats.
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9.
Wm William Low was one of the market leaders in Scotland in terms of market share, which was 7.
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10.
Takeover battle for William Low started on 14 July 1994, when Tesco announced its formal bid of £156 million for the company to dramatically improve its Scottish portfolio and an assurance it would not cherry pick the best stores.
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12.
William Low was never successful in the city again with their branch closing in the city three years later.
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