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Retailer Face To Face: Austins, Newton Abbot
Keeping It In
The Family Family-owned independent department store Austins, just shy of its milestone 100th anniversary, was the winner of this year’s Greats Best Department Store Retailer of Gifts category, with third generation David Austin currently at the helm and ambitious to drive the business forward. From humble beginnings, four huge Austins stores now dominate the market town’s landmark ‘clock tower’ square, making the retailer the largest independent, family-owned department store in the South West. “My dream was always to create a mini John Lewis for the West country,” David told PG&H. Independently owned Austins is a real life rags to riches story, the retail journey of three generations of the Austin family that began when a somewhat impoverished Robert Austin, raised in London’s East End, lost the lease on his small drapers shop in Romford, Essex. His criteria was to find an alternative outlet which was freehold and was also adjacent to Marks & Spencer’s Penny Baazar, which he had the foresight to see would become a major player in high street retail. (Ironically, it would have surely made Robert very proud, that Austins’ current owner, his grandson David, recently bought that very same Marks & Spencer building, more of which later).
Sustainably Speaking Austins is proud of its eco friendly credentials that include solar panels and LED lighting across all four buildings. “We also recycle and re-purpose as much as we can,” highlights David, who has been a member of Friends of the Earth for the past 35 years.
By chance, Robert’s son Charles, who had joined his father in the business, spotted a run-down freehold drapery and haberdashers store in Newton Abbot, next door to Marks & Spencer, while on holiday. It ticked all the boxes, and together with his father, they subsequently relocated to South Devon on 10 March 1924, with the rest being department store history. In the ensuing years, retail entrepreneurs Robert and Charles, (“who was very forward
Top: The exterior of the flagship Austins fashion store in Newton Abbot. Above: From left to right: owner David Austin; fashion manager Julie King, and merchandise director Paul Lewis are shown with Austins’ coveted Greats trophy. Below: Langs is among the newer giftware brands.
looking and intent on developing the business and taking it forward,” explains David), went on to acquire additional vacant buildings as they became available. These included the former Globe hotel (now an Austins dedicated, standalone homewares store selling cookshop, small domestic appliances and tableware, as well as linens and soft furnishings on the top floor); the Courts furniture shop (now an Austins furniture, bedding and carpet store); an enormous toy store - arguably the largest in Devon - that also houses a brand new sports and sportswear department on the top level; and Newton Abbot’s former Santander building which was acquired seven years ago. It’s this acquisition that has given Austins its flagship fashion store corner location. (Interestingly, the original Austins occupied what is now the cosmetics department). Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide
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