Barkers, Northallerton: ‘It would take a lot to get rid of us’ - the evolution of a Yorkshire department store run by five generations that survived two world wars and Covid-19 pandemic
Five generations of the Barker family have been running the department store in Northallerton for more than 140 years - surviving two world wars and the Covid-19 pandemic.
William Barker was one of 14 siblings who grew up on a family farm, but there was not enough work for all of the children.
In 1882 he was sent to Northallerton for an apprenticeship at Oxendales Drapers Store on the high street.
At the time it specialised in selling dress fabrics, tweeds, cottons, linens, wool blankets, brush braids and evolved into a tailoring business in the early 1990s.
William did so well as an apprentice that he eventually became a partner in the business in 1907, when the name changed to Oxendale and Barker.
By 1913, he bought out the remainder of the business and expanded it into a multi-brand department store that has survived various challenges.
It has now been run by five generations of the Barker family, including the director, Guy Barker, 36, from Northallerton, who is William’s great grandson.
In the beginning, it was just one property in Northallerton and has since expanded into a department store, Guy said.
“The noticeable challenges would definitely be the wars that they went through,” Mr Barker said.
“During the Second World War, I know a lot of the male members of staff were affected, they had to go and fight.
“The shop struggled to get hold of a lot of day-to-day items, so there were a lot of supply chain issues.
“Other issues would be in the 1970s when there were a lot of power cuts happening due to miner strikes. Our store would often get plunged into darkness, so we had lots of gas lamps brought into the store.
“Obviously the most recent very challenging time was during the Covid-19 pandemic when we were forced to close every other retail and department store, which was very difficult.
“But we’ve been around a long time and we are fairly well rooted in Northallerton, so it would take quite a lot to get rid of us.”
Another challenge has been the increase in competition with online retail businesses, but Mr Barker says that Northallerton has ‘so much to offer’ for bricks and mortar stores.
“I would say that the balance of growth for online against the growth of bricks and mortar is slowing down,” he said.
“After speaking to customers, there are so many out there that do really appreciate coming into a physical store, seeing what they’re buying, feeling it, trying it on, and making a day of it, rather than just ordering something online.
“Quite often when it arrives, you don’t like the fit of it, the size of it, the style of it and it ends up getting sent back.
“I think Northallerton has so much to offer when you do make the trip here.
“There are some great independent stores, so I do think bricks and mortar stores do still have their place and Northallerton is in a really good position to make the most of that.
“Another huge thing about making sure we keep our physical stores going is how we look after our customers and I think the service that we offer, which is really important to us, is another real good pull factor to encourage customers into the store rather than staying at home.”
Since the early 1900s, the departments at Barkers went through various changes from tailoring and homeware to fashion, beauty and food and drink.
“We used to have suits made onsite, people could come to have their suits measured up in the store,” Mr Barker said.
“The men’s tailoring was a very big part of the business and I think because of that over the years, we do have a very strong men’s wear department in the store. We don’t tend to do a lot of suits nowadays though.
“Our departments have varied over the years, we’ve dabbled in lots of different merchandise. We did have a bridle and saddle department where we sold leather goods, riding wear, but it didn’t last too long.
“When I used to come to the store, this was in the very early 1990s, we had furniture, carpets and rugs and that changed as there was a big drive for furniture stores to have much bigger sites with a lot more choice.
“In 1994, we built our Barkers Home store which is on the outskirts of town and we moved furniture out of the high street store so that we could concentrate more on the fashion, beauty and homewear element of the high street store.”
Barkers has had many customers that have shopped with them for a long time.
“They bring their grandparents in which is always nice and they tell us about how they used to come into the store,” Mr Barker said.
“My grandfather would often be there and fit them up with a new suit and that he was a very good sales person.
“Being one of the larger employers in the town, we do get a lot of customers in with relatives who have possibly worked in the store at one point.
“It does feel like a big family with customers and staff who know each other on first name terms.”