Editing Allders (section)

==Growth==
In 1908 Allder's family sold the business to J. W. Holdron and F. C. Bearman, owners of stores in [[Balham]] and [[Leytonstone]] respectively. They developed the store into 50 departments with 500 staff and owned the business until 1921. It then passed to the Lawrence family, under whose control it became a limited company.<ref name="mcqueeney"/>

In 1926, the famous North End facade was erected, uniting the frontage of the Croydon premises for the first time. In 1932 an Arcade from North End to George Street was completed,<ref name="mcqueeney"/> proving a  very popular addition to the store. An extension to the restaurant was opened in the same year.

The building suffered considerable damage in [[World War II]] but never closed. Improvements during the 1950s included the takeover of a cinema auditorium as the gift department and the installation of Croydon's first escalators, built by [[J & E Hall]], in 1954.<ref name="mcqueeney"/> By 1958, the Lawrence family was forced to sell as a result of death duties incurred after the death of Daniel Arthur Lawrence, managing director. The store was acquired by Jack & Bernard Lyons' [[United Drapery Stores]] (UDS), owners of [[Richard Shops]], [[John Collier (retailer)|John Collier]], Alexandre Tailors and several department stores.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E5M-AAAAIAAJ&q=allders|title=Takeover: The Growth of Monopoly in Britain, 1951-61|author=Lawrence and Wihart|date=1962|page=63}}</ref> The son of D. A. Lawrence, S. John Lawrence, was kept on by UDS as managing director. Allders continued to expand, reaching £1 million turnover in 1958 and £3 million by 1963. Fashion's importance declined, with household items taking a greater role.

In the 1960s there was considerable change in Croydon, particularly the construction of the [[Whitgift Centre]] to the north of Allders, into which the store expanded, and the creation of the St George's Walk development. Transport and lifestyle changes led to greater competition with the [[West End of London|West End]] and further improvements were required to modernise the store. The section fronting George Street was rebuilt and expanded, retaining a Victorian facade, alongside a new addition. Rebuilding works continued into Dingwall Avenue and by 1976 Allders had 1,700 staff and 500,000 square feet (46,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of floor space. It was a Croydon landmark and became the third-largest department store in the UK, after [[Harrods]] and [[Selfridges]]. It had the largest carpet department in Europe, amongst other claims. Croydon was by this time a major retail centre.

Allders' immediate competitor, Kennards, was renamed [[Debenhams]] in 1973, along with many other Debenhams stores. To compete with the central buying and advertising of Debenhams and other large groups, the department stores owned by UDS were brought together in a new subsidiary company, Allders Department Stores Limited, in 1978. The stores were gradually renamed Allders.<ref name="mcqueeney"/> This process began with Shinners of [[Sutton, London|Sutton]] in 1979 and later Hinds of [[Eltham, London|Eltham]], Medhursts of [[Bromley]], James Page of [[Camberley]], Mackross of Cardiff, Willis Ludlow of [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] and Landport Drapery Bazaar (LDB) in [[Portsmouth]]. Only [[Arding & Hobbs]] at [[Clapham Junction (area)|Clapham Junction]] in London, John Farnon in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] and the Clover furnishing stores in [[Leeds]] city centre and [[Kirkstall]] retained their original identities. A new geometric logo of ten orange 'A's arranged in a circle on brown and cream-coloured stationery, bags and carpets appeared across the group, together with the phrase "All that a great store should be".

[[File:North End, Croydon - geograph.org.uk - 625263.jpg|thumb|Allders in 1983]]
In 1983 the Lyons family sold the UDS Group to [[Hanson plc]] and Allders became a flagship company of the group, with [[James Hanson, Baron Hanson|Lord Hanson]] appearing on Allders' roof in TV adverts. Allders expanded with new stores opening in [[Basildon]] and [[Chatham, Medway|Chatham]] and in many international airports as [[duty-free]] concessions. A new 'Fourth Floor' was built on the roof of the Croydon store to house a new Audio and Television Department and two new restaurants as well as a link into the staff areas of London House on Dingwall Avenue. The group's brown, cream and orange livery was replaced with a scheme of light blue and gold lettering on a dark blue background.

In 1989 a [[management buyout]] saw the international arm spun off as a separate company. There was continued upheaval in Croydon with the complete refurbishment of the Whitgift Centre and of parts of the store. The vast carpet department was contracted to a secondary location allowing for the creation of a new perfumery and cosmetics hall at the centre of the ground floor. A new Allders store of {{convert|137000|sqft|m2}} opened at [[Woking]] in 1992. Allders plc was floated on the stock market in 1993.

The growth of the group rapidly accelerated following stock market flotation with the acquisition of existing stores and the building of new ones. This began with the acquisition of [[Nottingham]] Co-op's lease on their Broad Marsh Centre store and the development of a chain of stand-alone home furnishing stores. The opening of a second Clover store at [[Rotherham]] was succeeded by the development of "At Home with Allders" a concept for new stores in out-of-town [[retail park]]s, the first of which opened at [[Aylesford]] in [[Kent]] in 1994. The Clover stores were both rebranded.

In September 1996 Allders purchased a number of department stores from the [[Owen Owen]] group that traded under the [[Lewis's]] and Owen Owen names. This included branches in [[Basingstoke]], [[Coventry]], [[Ilford]], [[Leeds]], [[Oxford]], [[Redditch]] and [[Slough]].

In 1997 Allders acquired the bankrupt [[Maple & Co.|Maples]] furniture brand and seven of its retail outlets. These stores were integrated into the Allders At Home portfolio and brought the brand to town centre locations in [[Bromley]], [[Chelmsford]], [[Crawley]], [[Kingston upon Thames]], [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]], [[Sutton Coldfield]] and [[Watford]]. The Bromley outlet, in direct competition with the town's main Allders store, was soon disposed of. The Kingston store, offering a range focussed solely on furniture, beds and carpets, struggled to compete with [[Bentalls]] and [[John Lewis (department store)|John Lewis]]. This competition in the town and the frontage of the store being obscured for some time whilst work on the Kingston Bridge was carried out led to the store's closure within two years. A second Kingston store was later opened in the former [[C & A]] building, offering a broader range of merchandise for the home.