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Beatties

Logo: The logo may be obtained from Beatties/House of Fraser.., Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3

Former British department store chain

Beatties was a small British department store group located primarily in the Midlands of England. In 2005, when it had 12 stores, the group was acquired by House of Fraser. On 14 January 2006, the Birmingham store closed, because a similar House of Fraser store, Rackhams, was not far away.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1877Founded1

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Beatties was a small British department store group located primarily in the Midlands of England. In 2005, when it had 12 stores, the group was acquired by House of Fraser. On 14 January 2006, the Birmingham store closed, because a similar House of Fraser store, Rackhams, was not far away. In August 2007, the Telford store was rebranded, along with the Solihull and Sutton Coldfield stores. The group gradually rebranded all its branches under the House of Fraser name. In January 2010 the Dudley branch was closed.2

The story

Beatties was founded in 1877 and had grown from a small family drapery business in Wolverhampton to a department store with an excellent reputation for customer service. The first store on Victoria Street, Wolverhampton, was rebuilt in a neo-classical style by the architect Gerald de Courcy Fraser in 1929. The Company Policy (known as the Four Corners of Responsibility) stated that the responsibility to the customer was

"To provide the customer with a good range of well chosen, good value merchandise. To offer this to the public in attractive surroundings, backed by pleasant and effective service, and in an atmosphere of complete integrity and responsibility. To demonstrate at all times a genuine desire to please".

On joining Beatties, each member of staff (known as a "Member") was presented with a "Members' Guide" to provide members with information about the company and its policies, the condition of service offered, the facilities available and the rules to be followed.

From Wikipedia’s article on Beatties, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

  • clothing

Listed on Wikidata.1

All stores now trade as House of Fraser, except the former Wolverhampton flagship store which is currently empty following the opening of Frasers in the former Debenhams department store in the Mander Centre.

Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands

Telford, Shropshire ( Now a Frasers Department Store)

Read the full text

Worcester, Worcestershire

Former locations

Birmingham, West Midlands (closed January 2006)

Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire (closed September 2012)

Dudley, West Midlands (closed January 2010; building now partly occupied by Iceland)

Northampton, Northamptonshire (closed 2014; building now occupied by Next and Primark)

Birkenhead (closed March 2020)

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire (closed August 2022)

Solihull, West Midlands (closed 28 August 2023)

Wolverhampton, West Midlands (Closed and relocated as Frasers Department Store in Mander Shopping Centre)

From Wikipedia’s article on Beatties, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1877Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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