Big brands. Rivalry. Mixed success.

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (93) explores the lives, commercial success, and trading conditions of people who sold groceries during 1871.

Victorian Bournemouth (93): the grocery business (1)

Joseph Mundell

This man, a Scotsman, gardener’s son, had come to Dorset by 1851, where he had a grocery and ironmongery in Bere Regis. Within a decade, the business had spread to Poole. Soon he would extend it to Bournemouth. In 1865, the Poole & Dorset Herald ran an advertisement in which Mundell demonstrated his business skills. Foreseeing possible price rises on tea, he stock-piled the commodity in order sell at the old levels. Mundell operated as both a wholesaler and a retailer. He also sought agencies, for example insurance and spirits (Gilbeys). Members of his extended family worked in the business, perhaps enabling him to manage his staffing costs. In time, Mundell moved to Bournemouth and then built a home near Talbot Village. His probate record showed a healthy estate. He seems to have had good business acumen that enabled him to establish an enterprise that lasted beyond him. 

National operations take the initiative

Mundell’s stocking of products available on the national scale would have reassured his customers about quality. Packaged goods’ manufacturers used strong, visual press advertising that supported local retailers. An advertisement for Lea & Perrins sauce, including a pack-shot, appeared in the Poole & Dorset Herald (1860). It mentioned the distributor – the ambitious Crosse & Blackwell company – and referred to the brand’s presence in ‘respectable grocers’. Other brands or companies, still known today, adopted this strategy: Horniman’s tea, Menier chocolate, Reckitt’s and Colman’s (then separate). These companies tied their advertising to local outlets. For example, Reckitt’s advertised their Black Diamond lead cleaner as sold by E. Crosby, Bournemouth. Edward Crossby, a farmer’s son, apprenticed to a grocer, married a confectioner’s daughter, and set up a provision store in Bournemouth by 1861. Within ten years he retired with enough success to call himself a gentleman, although of modest estate.

Victorian Bournemouth (93): the grocery business (2)

Staying ahead

Thus, running a grocery store during Bournemouth’s second period may have involved complexities. Production companies, national in scale, used marketing and economies of scale to force distribution. Gilbey’s gin used one agent per location. Mundell had entered multiple markets. In 1874, Leverett & Fry, a growing national grocery chain, entered Bournemouth by acquiring Matthew Cox’s grocery. Two men, grocers in Blandford and Wimborne, may have tried to establish branches at Bournemouth through their sons’ efforts. To prosper, some men operated in more than one category. Most sold bread in addition to dry goods, a few having a baker on staff. John Chinchen, however, cut stone for builders but also sold groceries. Harry Adams sold cloth alongside provisions. Two others speculated in property, James Bell and Levi Fry. Hence, achieving success with groceries at Bournemouth may have proved difficult, as some had already discovered.

Competition

In 1877 a building in Bournemouth came up for sale. The auctioneer considered it suitable for a grocer ‘because there is yet no competition in the neighbourhood’. The resort’s rising population and suburban growth offered opportunities, but perhaps too many fished in the grocery pond. Several clustered in the commercial sector, west of the Bourne. Others spread out eastwards into Springbourne. During Bournemouth’s first period, several people arrived to operate as grocers, but moved away before long. Only three men appeared to have established viable businesses: James Bell, Matthew Cox, Matthew Onslow. During the second period, a similar pattern applied. Several people came and went. Bankruptcy accounted for several businesses, others, perhaps could not compete. The three established businesses would disappear in the 1870s. By 1871, however, a fresh generation appeared to have established positions that would keep them in Bournemouth for the rest of the century.

Victorian Bournemouth (93): the grocery business (3)

Bankruptcy

Some went bankrupt through failure in their grocery business. Robert Brock, who had a grocery in Orchard Street, did so, but, after going to London where he ran a coffee house, returned to selling groceries in Bournemouth. He had a deficiency of only £132, whereas ten times this accrued to bankrupt grocer Joseph Burton. Brock seems to have had a better business sense. He had a positive ratio in good to bad debtors. Burton did not. John Mobbs, a Suffolk man, came and went within two or three years during the 1860s. In 1871, once again in Suffolk, he worked as a grocery assistant. This chain of events suggests a possible bankruptcy, albeit unreported, or, despite a good central location, he perhaps found the competition too difficult. A couple found disaster outside grocery. The property dealings of Levi Fry and James Bell ended in bankruptcy, the latter’s severe.

Success

A grocery business advertised for sale in the 1870s turned over around £2,500 a year. On the surface, the vendor seems to have built a successful enterprise. The three ‘new-men’ who did likewise at Bournemouth brought prior experience to running their groceries. Henry Brown sold tea and groceries in Blandford for about twenty years before migrating to Bournemouth. Thomas Shorto came to Bournemouth having assisted in a grocery in Sherborne. In 1871, he employed five men. Although just 21 in 1871, Henry Martin perhaps served an apprenticeship, for he described his occupation as ‘master grocer’. All three accumulated estates worth four figures, modest, but respectable. These men appeared to have chosen grocery as a profession. Another, by contrast, spent more time as a gardener than a grocer. He had several brushes with the law, including receiving a fine for selling underweight bread. He perhaps found the competition difficult.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (93) has found that while, to some, selling groceries may have seemed unchallenging, success needed business acumen backed by sufficient capital. Offering discounts for cash would minimise debtors, keeping the business afloat. Taking advantage of support from national brands provided another measure of support. Some appear to have done well, but just as many, if not more, did not.

References

For references and engagement, please get in touch. Main primary sources: here and here (subscriptions needed). See here for earlier grocers at Victorian Bournemouth.