WH Smith’s exits high street, is now TGJones

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Worth saying again that you’ll still see Smiths at all the big train stations, in the hospitals, at the airport, it’s not vanishing completely and it’s not going online only. It’s just shedding its high street arm. 85% of its profits come from the travel arm, the high street bit has been a drag on its profitability for years.

The new owners purchased the high street branches for a knock down 76 million pounds.

www.bbc.co.uk

WH Smith name to disappear from High Street after sale

The 233-year-old chain will become TGJones but the WH Smith brand will continue at airports and railway stations.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
I can still remember going to the big John Menzies store in Princess Street in Edinburgh to get my first military aviation book shortly after Desert Storm.
 
For much of the 70s the Smiths in Oxford's Cornmarket had a gent in a pinstriped suit to deter the likes of me from peaking in magazines.
Sadly these days the mag racks are often blocked by readers much like a pub bar.
 
CJGibson said:
Menzies or 'Mingez'?
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602202bf105da3ba40fe314e750cceb9adbb5c7b.gif
 
Menzies always seemed to sell more books than Smiths did (and Smiths used to have a far larger selection than they have in recent years). I still have at least one Menzies purchase on my shelves (for sentimental reasons, I don't actually refer to it much these days).
They also used to come up with obscure Lego sets that usually only the UK Lego Club could get hold of in the UK.
 
That was why I liked the big Menzies store in Princess Street Edinburgh Hood, those were the days. :(
 
On Menzies or Mingez, or what a little rummage on internet will get you.
From http://leepers.us/mtvoid/2015/VOID0710.htm
I enjoyed the discussion on the pronunciation of names in Friday 3July's MT VOID. I have some comments that may be of interest:
  1. Even in Scotland, some pronounce Menzies as "men-zez" and some as "Minge-ez" and yet others "Ming-ez". You have to ask which to use.
  2. The Scottish grouse called the capercailzie is often writtencapercaillie; but it is pronounced "kape-er-cay-lee".
  3. Towcester in England is "toaster", just as Worcester is "wooster" and Bicester is "biss-ter".
  4. Athens, Georgia, is "ath-ens" with the ath as in bath; but Athens, Illinois, is "ay-thins", with the ay as in bay.
  5. Cairo, Egypt, is "kye-roe", but Cairo, Illinois, is "kay-ro" as in Karo Syrup.
  6. Up to and past the late-'60s moon landings, the BBC would pronounce Houston, Texas, as "Hoose-ton", but I understand now they say "hyus-ton", i.e., like Euston Station but with an H preceding it, same as we do.
  7. I've heard Dalziel pronounced "Dal-yell". never "dal-zeal", and not "deal" or "de-al" either.
  8. The British pronunciations "zed" and "shed-yule" for Z and schedule are historically more justified than American "zee" and "sked-yule", but both are acceptable, and neither will change. When I was teaching my son, whose mother is British, the alphabet decades ago, I would sing the Alphabet Song, but end it with:
    Q, R, S, and T, U V,
    W, and X, Y, Zee,
    Or, as it is sometimes said,
    W, and X, Y, Zed.
Click to expand...
 
I always thought that it was pronounced Ming-Es Arjen, but I suppose there is a million different ways of how to pronounce it.
 
Not being a native speaker of English, I have often been caught out pronouncing British names. It's just one of those things. Natives are usually happy to gently correct me, even happier when I remember.
 
FighterJock said:
I always thought that it was pronounced Ming-Es ...
Click to expand...

Time to bring back the ȝ (yogh) in Menȝies? :D

This made-up name 'TGJones' rebranding strikes me as odd. But I'm curious as to how Brits are responding to the rebranding.
 

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