Heatons
 | |
 A former Heatons store in Omagh | |
| Heatons | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department store |
| Founded | 1946 in Athlone |
| Fate | Acquired by Sports Direct, with individual shops being converted to Sports Direct |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | Over 50 at its peak |
| Products | Clothing, homeward, sports goods |
| Owner | Frasers Group |
Number of employees | Over 2,000 |
| Website | www |
Heatons was an Irish chain of department stores, established in 1946. It operated throughout the island of Ireland and sold fashion, homeware and sporting goods.
Heatons briefly held a franchise for British Home Stores,[1] and also co-located some shops with Iceland during their first venture into Ireland.
Heatons was acquired by Frasers Group (formerly Sports Direct International) in 2016,[2] with Sports Direct having previously owned 50% of the chain from 2010,[3] and having held a 42.5% stake since at least 2007.[4]
Following the acquisition, any new Heatons shops were built with an attached Sports Direct section and existing Heatons shops were altered to additionally accommodate a Sports Direct section. Older shops had the Sports Direct section branded as "Sportsworld", a former named used in the UK but which continued to be used in Ireland for some time after, or "H. Sports".
Over the approximately five years following the acquisition, gradually all Heatons shops (from a peak of over 50) closed in their entirety to be converted into a Sports Direct shop alongside a smaller "Brand Max" section (another Frasers Group brand) selling some of what Heatons formerly sold. All former Heatons shops in Ireland have now closed and been converted to Sports Direct, with the shops in the Republic of Ireland being operated by Heatons Ltd (now a subsidiary of Sports Direct) and the shops in Northern Ireland being operated by Sports Direct's UK subsidiary.
References
- ^ "BHS store to open in Kilkenny centre". The Irish Times. 14 February 1996. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ "Sports Direct to seal €48m acquisition of Heatons chain today". Independent.ie. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ Coffey, Aine (12 September 2010). "And finally: Ashley goes on shopping spree at Heatons". The Times.
- ^ "Annual Report and Accounts". Sports Direct. 2007. p. 8. Archived from the original on 26 February 2018 – via zonebourse.com.