MARKS AND SPENCER P.L.C.

nickname Marks and Sparks one of the largest British retail clothing and food companies. The Marks & Spencer house brand name is St. Michael. Headquarters of the firm are in London. Marks & Spencer started in 1884 as a stall in an open market in Leeds, Yorkshire. Then known as Marks' Penny Bazaar, it was the household goods, haberdashery, toy, and sheet-music business of Michael Marks, a Jewish refugee from Poland. His sign read, Don't ask the priceit's a penny. In 1894 he took Thomas Spencer as a business partner. Marks' son Simon started the St. Michael brand name and transformed the business from a number of outdoor stalls in various markets of northern England to a number of indoor shops. There are Marks & Spencer stores in France, Belgium, and Spain and in Hong Kong. The company also has direct retailing investments in Canada, and in 1988 it purchased Brooks Brothers, the oldest clothing retailer in the United States.