Another company that’s still around, although now in addition to being a food retailer they have “interests in financial services.”
Their history is online. The section called “The Early Years,” below, takes the company right up to the time of his 1915 ad:
Sainsbury’s was founded in 1869 by John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury. They opened their first small dairy shop at 173 Drury Lane, London. Drury Lane was one of London’s poorest areas and the Sainsburys’ shop quickly became popular for offering high-quality products at low prices. It was so successful that further branches were opened in other market streets in Stepney, Islington and Kentish Town.
By 1882 John James Sainsbury had four shops and had plans to expand his business further. He opened a depot in Kentish Town, north-west London, to supply this growing chain and, on the same site, built bacon kilns that produced the first Sainsbury brand product. It was also in 1882 that John James opened his first branch in the prosperous suburb of Croydon. This shop sold a wide range of ‘high-class’ provisions and was more elaborately decorated than the earlier shops.
In the late Victorian period competition from large national multiple retailers such as Lipton’s posed a serious challenge to small regional chains like Sainsbury’s. John James found it necessary to step up his rate of expansion so that he could buy goods as competitively as these companies. Between 1890 and 1900 the number of Sainsbury’s branches trebled from 16 to 48. John James also opened a new depot at Blackfriars, south-east London, which was close to the wholesale markets and the London docks.
