business . for other uses of the sainsbury name see sainsbury disambiguation . coordinates 51 31 02 n 0 06 30 w 51.51722 n 0.10833 w 51.51722 ; 0.10833 j sainsbury plc type public traded as lse sbry otcqx jsaiy otcqx jsnsf industry retailing founded 1869 ; 147 years ago 1869 holborn london united kingdom founder john james sainsbury headquarters 33 holborn london ec1n 2ht united kingdom number of locations 1 312 june 2015 key people david tyler chairman mike coupe chief executive officer products convenience forecourt store hypermarket supercenter superstore supermarket revenue 23.775 billion 2015 1 operating income 81 million 2015 1 net income 166 million 2015 1 owner judith portrait 3.92 % lord sainsbury 4.99 % sainsbury family 15 % qatar investment 25.999 % number of employees 161 100 2015 1 subsidiaries sainsbury s bank plc sainsbury s supermarkets ltd. sainsbury s convenience stores ltd. argos habitat home retail group website corporate website consumer website sainsbury s is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the united kingdom 2 with a 16.9 % share of the uk supermarket sector . 3 founded in 1869 by john james sainsbury with a shop in drury lane london the company became the largest grocery retailer in 1922 was an early adopter of self service retailing in the uk and had its heyday during the 1980s . in 1995 tesco overtook sainsbury s to become the market leader and asda became the second largest in 2003 demoting sainsbury s to third place for most of the subsequent period until 2014 when sainsbury s regained second place . 4 the holding company j sainsbury plc is split into three divisions sainsbury s supermarkets ltd including convenience stores sainsbury s bank and sainsbury s argos . the group s head office is in the sainsbury s store support centre in holborn circus city of london . 5 the group also has interests in property . as of may 2011 the largest sainsbury family shareholders are lord sainsbury of turville with 4.99 % with judith portrait the trustee of various sainsbury settlements and charitable trusts holding 3.92 % . the largest overall shareholder is the sovereign wealth fund of qatar the qatar investment authority who hold 25.999 % of the company . 6 it is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . contents 1 history 1.1 origin and growth 1869 1955 1.2 self service and heyday 1956 1991 1.3 sainsbury s decline 1992 1998 1.4 the brand re launch 1998 2003 1.5 making sainsbury s great again 2004 2006 1.6 takeover bids 2007 1.7 recent developments 2007 present 2 leaders 3 financial performance 4 current operations 4.1 stores 4.1.1 supermarkets 4.1.1.1 sainsbury s fuel 4.1.1.2 sainsbury s caf 4.1.2 convenience stores 4.2 sainsbury s online 4.2.1 sainsbury s entertainment 4.2.2 sainsbury s energy 4.2.3 sainsbury s compare and save 4.2.4 sainsbury s gift cards and sainsbury s business direct 4.3 sainsbury s bank 4.4 former formats and ventures 5 marketing and branding 5.1 store fascias 5.2 nectar loyalty card 5.3 sainsbury s active kids 5.4 brand ambassadors 5.5 slogans 6 product ranges 6.1 former ranges 7 staffing 7.1 employee relations 8 controversies 8.1 price fixing 8.2 tax avoidance 8.3 online only recruitment 8.4 treatment of overseas workers 8.5 food safety prosecutions 8.6 removal of kosher products 8.7 bristol rovers f.c. v sainsbury s 9 distribution 10 archive 11 see also 12 references 13 external links history edit origin and growth 1869 1955 edit sainsbury s first store in drury lane c. 1919 sainsbury s was established as a partnership in 1869 when john james sainsbury and his wife mary ann opened a store at 173 drury lane in holborn london . 7 sainsbury started as a retailer of fresh foods and later expanded into packaged groceries such as tea and sugar . his trading philosophy as stated on a sign outside his first shop in islington was quality perfect prices lower . 8 sainsbury s was very innovative in that its stores instead of featuring five own brand lines as arch rival home and colonial did offered a wide range of own label lines in comparison . also instead of sawdust floors and wooden counters sainsbury s boasted marble counters mosaic floors and white tiled walls . staff even had a uniform of white aprons . stores started to look similar so people could recognise them throughout london a high cast iron j. sainsbury sign featured on every store so their stores could be seen on coaches and omnibuses 9 and round the back deliveries started to add extra convenience and not upset rivals due to sainsbury s popularity . 10 in 1922 j sainsbury was incorporated as a private company as j. sainsbury limited when it became the uk s largest grocery group . 11 by this time each store had the following departments dairy bacon and hams poultry and game cooked meats and fresh meats . groceries were introduced in 1903 when john james purchased a grocer s branch at 12 kingsland high street dalston . home delivery featured in every store as there were fewer cars in those days . sites were carefully chosen with a central position in a parade selected in preference to a corner shop . this allowed a larger display of products which could be kept cooler in summer which was important as there was no refrigeration . 12 by the time john james sainsbury died in 1928 there were 128 shops . his last words were said to be keep the shops well lit . he was replaced by his eldest son john benjamin sainsbury who had gone into partnership with his father in 1915 . 13 during the 1930s and 1940s with the company now run by john james sainsbury s eldest son john benjamin sainsbury the company continued to refine its product offerings and maintain its leadership in terms of store design convenience and cleanliness . 14 the company acquired the midlands based thoroughgood chain in 1936 . 15 alan sainsbury the founder s grandson later lord sainsbury of drury lane became joint managing director of sainsbury s along with his brother sir robert sainsbury in 1938 after their father john benjamin sainsbury had a minor heart attack . 16 following the outbreak of world war ii many of the men who worked for sainsbury s were called to perform national service and were replaced by women . given sainsbury s reputation for quality foods at fair prices the second world war was difficult times for sainsbury s as most of its stores were trading in the london area and were bombed or damaged . turnover fell to half the pre war level . food was rationed and one particular store in east grinstead was so badly damaged on friday 9 july 1943 that it had to move to the local church temporarily while a new one was built . this store was not completed until 1951 . 17 self service and heyday 1956 1991 edit in 1956 alan sainsbury became chairman after the death of his father john benjamin sainsbury . 16 during the 1950s and 1960s sainsbury s was a keen early adopter of self service supermarkets in the uk ; the first uk self service store was a co operative store opened in 1942 . 18 on a trip to the united states of america alan sainsbury realised the benefits of self service stores and believed the future of sainsbury s was self service supermarkets of 10 000 sq ft 930 m2 with eventually the added bonus of a car park for extra convenience . 19 the first self service branch opened in croydon in 1950 . 20 sainsbury s was a pioneer in the development of own brand goods ; the aim was to offer products that matched the quality of nationally branded goods but at a lower price . 21 it expanded more cautiously than did tesco shunning acquisitions and it never offered trading stamps . 22 until the company went public on 12 july 1973 as j sainsbury plc the company was wholly owned by the sainsbury family . it was at the time the largest ever flotation on the london stock exchange ; 23 the company rewarded the smaller bids for shares in order to create as many shareholders as possible . a million shares were set aside for staff which led to many staff members buying shares that shot up in value . within one minute the list of applications was closed 495 million had been offered for 14.5 million available shares . the sainsbury family at the time retained 85 % of the firm s shares . the feverish press that surrounded the flotation greatly enhanced the company s new dynamic image . sainsbury s in bradford on avon wiltshire the company benefited too from a consistency of management stemming from family ownership and control . the fact that it did not go public until 1973 was not a disadvantage ; unlike tesco sainsbury s grew organically rather than by takeovers and at least during this period did not need to use its shares as an acquisition currency . sainsbury s had the advantage shared to some extent by tesco of a strong market position in london and the south east . most of the senior positions were held by family members . john davan sainsbury later lord sainsbury of preston candover 24 a member of the fourth generation of the founding family took over the chairmanship from his uncle sir robert sainsbury in 1969 who had been chairman for two years from 1967 following alan sainsbury s retirement . sainsbury s started to replace its 10 000 sq ft 930 m2 high street stores with self service supermarkets above 20 000 sq ft 1 900 m2 which were either in out of town locations or in regenerated town centres . sainsbury s policy was to invest in uniform well designed stores with a strong emphasis on quality ; its slogan was good food costs less at sainsbury s . 25 during the 1970s the average size of sainsbury s stores rose from 10 000 sq ft 930 m2 to around 18 000 sq ft 1 700 m2 ; the first edge of town store with 24 000 sq ft 2 200 m2 of selling space was opened at coldhams lane in cambridge in 1974 . the last counter service branch closed in peckham in 1982 . 26 although these larger stores contained some non food items they were not intended to match what asda had been doing in the north ; sainsbury s focused more single mindedly on food . to participate in the hypermarket sector sainsbury s formed a joint venture known as savacentre with british home stores . the first savacentre store was opened in washington tyne and wear in 1977 ; 27 nearly half the space amounting to some 35 000 sq ft 3 300 m2 was devoted to textiles electrical goods and hardware . as the hypermarket format became more mainstream with rivals such as asda and tesco launching ever larger stores it was decided that a separate brand was no longer needed and the stores were converted to the regular sainsbury s superstore format in 1999 . 28 this is in direct contrast to rival firms tesco and asda which have been rapidly expanding their tesco extra and asda wal mart supercentre hypermarket formats in recent years . another diversification took place in 1979 when sainsbury s formed a joint venture with the belgian retailer gb inno bm to set up a chain of do it yourself stores under the homebase name . 29 the plan was to open a diy store with a supermarket style layout . homebase was tripled in size in 1995 with the acquisition of the rival texas homecare from the ladbroke group plc. sainsbury s sold