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{{Short description|British consumer electronics retailer owned by Currys plc}}
{{about|the electrical retailer in the United Kingdom|its parent company|Currys plc|the general variety of spicy dishes from Asia|Curry|all other uses|Curry (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Currys
| logo = File:Currys Logo.svg
| logo_caption = The Currys logo used from 2021 following the revival of Currys as a sole brand
| foundation = 1884
| location = [[Waterloo, London|Waterloo]], London, England
| num_locations = {{Decrease}} 301 (2023)<ref name=Our Brands|CurrysPLC>{{cite web|title=Our Brands|url=https://www.currysplc.com/our-brands/|publisher=CurrysPLC|access-date=27 August 2023}}</ref>
| area_served = United Kingdom, Ireland
| key_people = Alex Baldock (Group Chief Executive)
| industry = Retail
| products = {{Unbulleted list|[[White goods]]||[[Consumer electronics]]|[[Computers]]|[[Mobile phones]]}}
| parent = [[Currys plc]]
| homepage = {{Official URL}}
}}
'''Currys''' (branded as '''Currys PC World''' between 2010 and 2021) is a British electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
Established as a bicycle retailer in 1927, Currys expanded the range of goods sold and from the 1960s became a major retailer of household electrical items. In 1984 the company was bought by rival retailer [[Dixons Retail|Dixons]], and the Currys brand was used for all outlets of the combined company. From 2008, the business turned away from shops in town centres to larger out-of-town stores under the '''Currys PC World''' brand, combining the operations of Currys with Dixon's [[PC World (retailer)|PC World]] under one roof; after the formation of [[Currys plc|Dixons Carphone]] in 2014, the stores gained [[Carphone Warehouse]] departments. It was announced in July 2021 that all Currys PC World stores would be rebranded to Currys.
==History==
===Early years===
[[File:Currys Shop 285-287 Belgrave gate 1903.jpeg|thumb|right|Currys Shop at 285–287 Belgrave gate in 1903]]
Henry Curry started to make bicycles in Painter Street [[Leicester]] in 1884, after leaving his previous employer [[N. Corah & Sons]]. Currys went public in 1927 when his four sons merged The Louth Bicycle Company, and the loose confederation of shops which the sons had run since their father's retirement in 1909, with the Nottingham-based Campion Cycle Company.<ref>Harry Lerner 1984). ''Currys, the First 100 Years'', Woodhead-Faulkner Press. {{ISBN|0859413071}} {{Page needed|date=June 2021}}</ref>
[[File:Old Currys sign.jpg|thumb|An old sign for a Currys store in Cowley Road, Oxford, possibly dating from 1934.]]
By the 1940s, the shops sold a wide variety of goods including bicycles, toys, radios and [[Phonograph|gramophones]].<ref name="TelegraphObit">{{cite news|last1=Whittaker|first1=John|title=Dennis Curry|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1316311/Dennis-Curry.html|date=16 April 2001}}</ref>
Meanwhile, particularly under the directorship between 1967 and 1984 of [[Dennis Curry]], grandson of Henry Curry,<ref>{{Cite web|date=17 April 2001|title=Obituary: Dennis Curry|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1316311/Dennis-Curry.html|url-status=live|access-date=23 June 2021|website=www.telegraph.co.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110074252/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1316311/Dennis-Curry.html |archive-date=10 January 2016 }}</ref> the company underwent considerable expansion to become a major high street supplier of televisions and white goods (refrigerators, washing machines and other domestic appliances); by 1984 Currys Group plc had 570 shops, twice as many as the company which was then to acquire it.<ref>[http://www.company-histories.com/Dixons-Group-plc-Company-History.html "Dixons Group plc" on Company-Histories.com]</ref>[[File:Currys.png|thumb|left|Logo used until 2021]]
[[File:Advertising supplement for Currys Welsh Week (1473459).jpg|thumb|A Currys store in North Wales in 1966]]
===Takeover by Dixons===
[[File:Currys - geograph.org.uk - 191140.jpg|thumb|right|Branch in the former branding in [[Grimsby]], Lincolnshire, 2006]]
[[File:Comet and Currys in Guiseley.jpg|thumb|right|Currys adjacent to former rival [[Comet (retailer)|Comet]] in [[Guiseley]], West Yorkshire, 2009]]
In 1984, Currys was taken over by [[Dixons Retail|Dixons]] (another electrical products retail chain, now Currys plc) but maintained its separate brand identity. In April 2006, Dixons Stores Group announced that its Dixons shops, except in Ireland and in duty-free areas in airports, would be rebranded as [[Currys.digital]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=29 September 2006|title=Assessing the Currys.digital brand|url=https://www.marketingweek.com/assessing-the-currys-digital-brand/|url-status=live|access-date=24 February 2021|website=Marketing Week|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010170110/https://www.marketingweek.com/assessing-the-currys-digital-brand/ |archive-date=10 October 2021 }}</ref> (later changed to Currys Digital). In Ireland, the Dixons shops were rebranded as Currys in August 2008.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mulligan|first=John|date=7 August 2008|title=Electrical store Dixons to be rebranded under Currys name|work=Irish Independent|url=http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/electrical-store-dixons-to-be-rebranded-under-currys-name-1448260.html}}</ref>
Before the Dixons rebranding, the chain had only a few small town centre shops compared with its much greater number of large out-of-town megastores. On 17 January 2007, group chief executive John Clare announced that when the leases on the remaining Currys High Street shops (not the rebranded Currys.digital shops) expired, it would be unlikely that they would be renewed: thus the shops would be closed at the earliest opportunity.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2162920.ece |title=Business Comment |date=18 January 2007 |work=The Independent |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218125041/http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2162920.ece |archive-date=18 February 2007 }}</ref>
=== Currys PC World ===
[[File:PC World, the Headrow, Leeds (20th February 2013) (tweaked).jpg|thumb|A combined Currys and PC World on [[The Headrow]] in [[Leeds]], 2013]]
Dixons Retail began a trial combining Currys and PC World shops in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|title=PC World and Currys trial joint store|url=http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/31042/DSGi-merges-PC-World-and-Currys|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929084418/http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/31042/DSGi-merges-PC-World-and-Currys|archive-date=29 September 2010|access-date=2 October 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Parfitt|first1=Ben|title=PC World and Currys combo ‘a success’|url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/pc-world-and-currys-combo-a-success/011709|access-date=24 August 2015|work=MCV|date=3 August 2009}}</ref> During the [[Dixons Carphone]] Christmas 2015–2016 results update to shareholders, Sebastian James, group chief executive, revealed that over the following financial year the three-in-one shop format (shops featuring Currys, [[PC World (retailer)|PC World]] and [[Carphone Warehouse]] branding under one roof) would be rolled out across the company's entire portfolio in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web
| url = http://www.dixonscarphone.com/system/files/uploads/financialdocs/christmas-trading-update-2015-16_0.pdf
| title = Christmas Trading Update 2015–16
| date = 26 January 2016
| website = Dixons Carphone
| publisher = Dixons Carphone
| access-date = 29 February 2016
}}{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
=== Revival of Currys as sole brand ===
Following reorganisations in 2020 and 2021, Dixons Carphone announced that the Currys PC World stores would be rebranded as Currys in October 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Onita |first=Laura |date=13 May 2021 |title=Dixons, PC World and Carphone Warehouse to disappear in Currys rebrand |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/05/13/pc-world-carphone-warehouse-disappear-currys-rebrand/ |access-date=23 June 2021 |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>
== Views ==
In December 2023, Currys' CEO Alex Baldock said of a planned rise in the [[National Minimum Wage]], "We believe we are paying our colleagues well and we certainly intend to continue to. That said, for the retail industry as a whole, having a big hike in the 'national living wage' at the same time as an expected half a billion pound increase in the rates bill just shows how little the government appears to understand or care about this industry."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Currys boss: minimum wage hike shows government does not ‘care’ about retail |url=https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/14/currys-boss-minimum-wage-hike-uk-government-retail-business-rates |access-date=14 December 2023 |website=The Guardian}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{Official website}} (United Kingdom)
*[https://www.currys.ie/ Official website] (Ireland)
{{Currys plc}}
[[Category:1884 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Consumer electronics retailers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Currys plc]]
[[Category:Retail companies established in 1884]]