Lewis & Cooper

The Northallerton store building dates back to the seventeenth century.[8] In 1899, both George Henry Lewis and Binks Barton Cooper worked as managers at a high street grocery business in Northallerton.[9] After the owner decided to sell the failing business, Lewis and Cooper executed a management buyout.[10] The company was incorporated in January 1903. Cooper, a sleeping partner, sold his share of the business in 1914, but the Lewis & Cooper name remained.[5] The company has sold hampers since 1936.[11]

The customer base began to dwindle by the end of the 1970s, due to the rise of the supermarkets.[12] In response, Lewis & Cooper began to reposition itself from a traditional grocers into a specialist upmarket food retailer.[13]

In 1999, tea rooms were opened on the first floor of the Northallerton store, in what was formerly the manager's quarters.[14] That same year, the store was featured on the newly released Yorkshire Monopoly board game.[15] A smaller store opened in Yarm in 2001. A Harrogate store opened in December 2011, but closed down in January 2013, following disappointing sales figures.[16]

Lewis & Cooper carries specialist items not often stocked by the major supermarkets, such as Chatka crab, Russian caviar and quail eggs.[17] The Northallerton store has 32,000 different product lines, versus the supermarket average of 5,000, located across 6,000 square feet.[17][18] 25 per cent of the Northallerton store's stock is sourced from the Yorkshire area.[19] Rhiannon Batten of The Independent described the store as "one of the UK's most famous food emporiums."[20]