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B&M, Middlesborough

B&M, Dundas Shopping Centre, Middlesbrough

Logo date: pre-2006? WaybackMachine shows this logo still in use on bargainmadness.co.uk and bmstores.co.uk until then. Given the chain’s rapid expansion didn’t take place until the late-00s onwards, this logo will only be familiar to those from the north.

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The expansion of the discount store over the past decade has been quite astounding. Empty High Street units left empty by Woolworths and BHS administrations have been snapped up, divested stores from supermarket takeovers, chains such as M&S or Tesco downsizing their footprint, and retail park stores empty following collapses of big brands like Focus DIY and Comet have all been quietly converted. No unit appears too big for them, with prices astoundingly reasonable on hundreds of ‘useful’ items. Food to household, decorating to gardening, they’ve cornered a market that had failed other stores on an individual level. Pile it up in one big shop though, having negotiated a reasonable rent? You’re seemingly successful...

For my bit of Britain growing up it was always Poundstretcher (and the shortlived in:store brand) that had cornered the discount market. Now we have HomeBargains, B&M, Poundland and to a lesser extent Boyes in what seems like most town centres, often across the street or next door to each other.

Their orange-and-blue fanned logo may be ubiquitous now, but B&M started life quietly in 1976 in Lancashire. The ‘B’ and ‘M’ originally stood for Billington & Mayman, although signage would often exclaim ‘Bargain Madness’ as the acronym. The ampersand gets in the way when thinking about that but we’ll gloss over it. Expanding slowly and taking over empty units primarily in the North, they became a local phenomenon. If you were lucky enough to have one in your town, you knew they provided value for money. Rebranding and smartening up of their brand image in the mid-00s following a business takeover in 2004 came with good timing; between the financial crash of 2008 and 2016, they expanded their number of UK outlets tenfold.

In 2001 they had 12 stores; finished 2007 with 61; now currently standing at over 500 outlets in the UK and Germany, and at one stage were opening a new branch every week. With a range of store sizes, from the large Home Stores to the new fascia Express stores (some converted from Heron Foods, which they recently took over) they’re clearly here to stay.

Here's a picture showing the Scunthorpe town centre branch circa 2007...