Rosebys was a retail chain, consisting of over 300 soft furnishing stores across the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Rosebys sold bedding, curtains, bathroom textiles, and other products. In September 2008 it was announced that Rosebys had become a victim of the 2008 credit crunch

Subprime mortgage crisis

The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was one of the first indicators of the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages....

 and had been placed into administration

Administration (insolvency)

As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry on running their business. The process – an alternative to liquidation – is often known as going...

.

History

Rosebys was founded in Grimsby

Grimsby

Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...

 in 1922 and, following this, expanded into Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 and northeast England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. They acquired a number of other companies in the 1980s, including Sherrys, Stapleton Linens, Maytime Linens, and Waldmans, and became a publicly traded company in 1992. They acquired Brentfords, Knightingales, Shallets, Russells and Bond Street Fabrics in 1995, Rexmore in 1996, and Bensons Beds, Fabric Warehouse  and Fads/Homestyle in 2000. Following this, the company changed its name to Homestyle Group. Homestyle Group bought the Harveys chain in 2000. Knightingales stores were rebranded as Rosebys in 2002. In 2004, Rosebys and Fabric Warehouse were acquired by Lloyds Development Capital and split into two separate companies. In 2006, Rosebys was acquired by Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd., part of the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

-based Dalmia Group.

On Friday 26 September 2008, with quarterly rents being due on the following Monday, it was announced that Rosebys had been placed into administration, with the loss of 2,000 jobs. Despite an annual turnover of £100m, the group had become a victim of reduced high street spending with fears that it would be the first of such high street failures.

External links

• Rosebys, official web site (dead link).
• http://whois.domaintools.com/rosebys.com