Beales was established in 1881 by John Elmes Beale when he opened a store, initially known as a Fancy Fair and Oriental House, on Old Christchurch Road in Bournemouth, Dorset. The company was run by the Beale family during the 20th century; Bennett Beale took over from his father, then by his John's grandson Frank. Frank Beale trained at Macy's in New York City before returning to lead the company. In the 1980s Nigel Beale, grandson of the company's founder, led the company. Beales claims to be the first department store in the world to feature a live Father Christmas character, dating back to 1885. During the Second World War the company's Bournemouth store was bombed on 23 May 1943. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1995. Whitakers, the Bolton department store opened in 1829 was bought by Beales in 1996, with the name changed to Beales in 2011.
Early 21st century expansion
The group acquired the Bentalls department stores in Ealing, Tonbridge and Worthing from Fenwick in 2002 and closed its Walton-on-Thames store in January 2006. A new Beales store opened in Horsham in September 2006 in premises formerly occupied by Allders. On 4 June 2010, Beales acquired the Robbs department store in Hexham from Vergo Retail which was in administration, for £250,000. In August 2010, Beales expanded further by acquiring the Westgate Department Store in Rochdale from the Anglia Regional Co-operative Society. As of 5 April 2011, Beales acquired 19 additional Westgate stores, securing its long-term future. In May 2012, Beales announced it would be opening an outlet store in the former T.J. Hughes store in The Mall Maidstone. This store closed inJune 2013. In addition a branch in Skipton closed in November 2012, a branch in Cinderford closed in July 2013. In summer 2014, the large Harrogate store closed for re-development of the land by the landlord. In June 2016, a planning application submitted by AEW UK for 76 flats in Bournemouth's Beales store was unanimously rejected after a campaign by locals and the owners of Beales backed by Conor Burns MP. The 65 studio and 11 one bedroom flats with no parking which were described by AEW UK as "an environmentally sustainable approach" which "made the best use of the building" were rejected by councillors as "shabby" and "appalling". On 28 November 2018, Beales bought Palmers. Tony Brown took the company into private ownership in 2018. Beales was a member of Associated Independent Stores which enables Beales to benefit from the cost savings of buying textiles and other non-food goods in bulk.
2020 closure
On 12 January 2020, Beales warned that the company with 23 stores in the UK could collapse into administration, if a buyer for the business could not be found. On 20 January 2020, Beales formally entered administration, appointing KPMG as the administrators. It is currently understood that there will be no immediate store closures and Beales stores will continue to trade as normal in the short term. On the same date, the beales.co.uk customer-facing website also went offline. At the time of entering administration, Beales had 23 stores and employed in excess of 1,000 people whose jobs are at risk. On 7 February 2020, it was announced that Beales was closing 12 stores, due to failure to sell the chain as a whole. This includes Beales’ flagship store and many other significant locations. On 18 February it was announced that, although negotiations with a number of parties were continuing, the remaining 11 stores would close within the following 8 weeks selling their remaining stock. The COVID-19 pandemic hastened the closure of the remaining Beales stores, with the last stores closing on 18 March and the website going offline shortly after.
