How it started
History
The Northallerton store building dates back to the seventeenth century. In 1899, both George Henry Lewis and Binks Barton Cooper worked as managers at a high street grocery business in Northallerton. After the owner decided to sell the failing business, Lewis and Cooper executed a management buyout. The company was incorporated in January 1903. Cooper, a sleeping partner, sold his share of the business in 1914, but the Lewis & Cooper name remained. The company has sold hampers since 1936.
The customer base began to dwindle by the end of the 1970s, due to the rise of the supermarkets. In response, Lewis & Cooper began to reposition itself from a traditional grocers into a specialist upmarket food retailer.
In 1999, tea rooms were opened on the first floor of the Northallerton store, in what was formerly the manager's quarters. That same year, the store was featured on the newly released Yorkshire Monopoly board game. A smaller store opened in Yarm in 2001, which closed in June 2020. A Harrogate store opened in December 2011, but closed down in January 2013, following disappointing sales figures.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lewis & Cooper, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2