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Retailer Face To Face: Williams Of Audlem 160th Anniversary
Keeping It In
The Family When Eli Williams opened the doors of his fabrics and haberdashery store, Williams of Audlem, in 1862, Queen Victoria was over halfway through her reign and Lord Palmerston was the country’s Prime Minister. Fast forward 160 years, and Eli’s great, great granddaughter Judy Williams is proud to be at the helm of this Greats-award winning retro-refitted store, which today has gifts at its heart, but still sells newspapers and magazines, as well as basic hardware, referencing its past. Judy looks backwards and forwards at the family business as the shop gets ready to celebrate its 160th anniversary in 2022. Pushing open the door of Williams of Audlem, based in the heart of the rural village of Audlem in South Cheshire, is like stepping back in time. You can see and touch its history, with many of the period fixtures and fittings still in place. They include the shop’s till, purchased second hand in the1890s by the founder’s son, George Williams, which featured on BBC 1’s The Repair Shop, (series 2, episode 11), as well as several items acquired from online second hand market sites. Evolving from a drapers and haberdashery store to sell gifts, home and interior accessories, greeting cards and stationery, the store dates back to at least 1840. “It was purchased by my great, great grandfather in 1863, who employed seamstresses in the back of the shop to make up garments for his more affluent customers,” explains Eli’s great, great granddaughter Judy Evans, the fifth generation of the family Above: Judy Williams is shown receiving the Independent Gift Retailer of the Year -North & Northern Ireland trophy at The Greats Awards in 2019. Presenting the award is David Cree, (right), sales manager of Joe Davies, category sponsor. Above right: The Williams family in the late 1890s. Eli Williams is shown middle row (seated, arms folded). Right: Williams of Audlem as it is today.
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to own the business. The Williams’ also acquired several printing presses, printing stationery for village events and for the local church and chapels’ services and celebrations. Eli’s eldest son, George Williams, took over the running of the business in the 1890s, and although his sons didn’t follow him into the family business, the shop passed to George’s daughter, the entrepreneurial Hilda Dutton, Judy’s grandmother. “By all accounts she was an unusual character for her time,” explains
Judy. “As a young woman in the 1920’s, she drove a car and rode a motorbike! She also introduced a shop delivery service, driving to rural farms where she delivered goods on a weekly basis showing that home delivery as a concept isn’t anything new.” Nor was late night opening. The shop would be open until 8pm during the week to accommodate the locals finishing their work in the agricultural industry. Hilda it turns out, was also a formidable business woman, putting all her money into stock for the shop at the outbreak of WW2, claiming that the business would either ‘sink or swim’. “Fortunately, it swam and
