Edwin Henry Booth (1828–1899) was a pioneering English entrepreneur who founded Booths, a family-owned supermarket chain renowned for its quality and innovation. Born in Bury, Lancashire, he was orphaned by the age of 11 and ran away from home. At just 19, Booth secured an £80 loan to open his first shop, The China House, in Blackpool in 1847. This marked the beginning of a retail legacy. By 1855, Booth had opened a second shop in Chorley, and with the relaxation of UK licensing laws, he expanded into selling wine and liquor. The added profitability enabled further expansion, leading to stores in Preston (1867), Lytham St Annes (1878), and Blackburn (1884). In 1896, the business was incorporated as a private limited company.
Edwin Booth’s son, John Booth, introduced cafés into the stores in 1902 and initiated an innovative profit-sharing model in 1920, inviting staff to become shareholders. Booths remains a family-and-staff-owned enterprise, with over 250 shareholders as of 2011. The current chairman, Edwin J. Booth, represents the fifth generation of the family and continues to emphasize quality, sustainability, and local sourcing. Booths has consistently been celebrated for its excellence. In 2006, it ranked second among the World’s Greatest Food Retailers for its focus on local sourcing and innovation. In 2015, it won Independent Retail Chain of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards. Environmental sustainability also plays a key role in Booths’ operations. Its head office, opened in 2006 in Preston, incorporates eco-friendly features like rainwater harvesting. Booths has also commissioned carbon footprint studies to support its sustainability initiatives.
The supermarket expanded to 27 stores, including outlets in Salford’s MediaCityUK and Cumbria. However, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of the MediaCityUK branch in 2021. Booths has also embraced e-commerce, partnering with Amazon Fresh in 2017 to offer branded products for home delivery. Chairman Edwin J. Booth has received numerous accolades, including the Business in the Community Prince of Wales Ambassador Award in 2005 and a CBE in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to business and charity. Booths continues to blend tradition with modern consumer trends, as evidenced by its introduction of unique products like ice cream for dogs in 2021. Booths stands as a testament to the enduring vision of Edwin Henry Booth and his descendants, combining local community values with high-quality offerings in a competitive retail landscape.
The image above ( ©Alamy ) shows shoppers outside a branch of Booths supermarket in Blackpool in 2009. This store was later closed to make way for the superb, much larger new store in Lytham St Annes. The featured image shows original founder Edwin Henry Booth.
