Amos Hinton & Sons plc was a small supermarket company from the North East of England trading as Hintons, it was acquired in a takeover by Argyll Foods in 1984.
The company was founded by Amos Hinton in Middlesbrough in 1871 when he bought out John Birks' shop in South Street. By 1919 the business had expanded such that it had seven stores on Teesside. It went on to buy Winterschladen, a chain of off-licences.
The company was acquired by Argyll Foods for £25 million in 1984. At the time the company traded from 55 stores and 30 off-licences. The head office had moved to Thornaby-on-Tees where there was also limited warehousing. There was a distribution centre in Stockton-on-Tees which is still used by Morrisons today. While Hintons own brand products were quickly replaced with Presto brands, the supermarkets continued to trade as Hintons for a short while before all being converted to Presto stores.
The new Hintons store in Guisborough (today a Morrisons) was one of the last to be launched with the Hintons name, the interior of the store having already been fitted out in the Presto format.
The Hintons name disappeared from all of the stores in the same week as the Presto brand was rolled out across Argyll's estate. The Winterschladen name continued to be used on the off licences for many years until those stores were eventually sold and became Victoria Wine stores.
The following stores were trading as Hintons at the time of acquisition by Argyll. Unless otherwise stated, stores were originally converted to Presto. The current use of the store where known is shown in parentheses.
Ashington, Wansbeck Square (Wilkinsons)Alnwick, Bondgate Within (Unit split in two and now occupied by Dorothy Perkins and Boots Opticians)Bishop Auckland, Market Place (Poundstretcher)Billingham, Queensway (B&M Bargains)Darlington, Cockerton, 11-13 Cockerton Green (Co-operative Food)Darlington, Queen Street Shopping Centre (vacant, last traded as a Poundshop)Guisborough, 71-81 Westgate (Morrisons)Guisborough, Hutton Lane (Pre-school nursery)Hartlepool, Catcote Road, Fens Shops (Tesco Express)Hartlepool, Middleton Grange Shopping Centre (unit empty; last traded as What Everyone Wants/What Shops in the 90's)Hartlepool, Murray Street (unit broken into two and now occupied by a Sainsbury's Local and a smaller shop called Qwidz Inn)Hartlepool, Seaton Carew, Elizabeth Way Shops (Spar)Loftus, 29 High Street (Co-operative Food)Marske-by-the-Sea, 113-115 High Street (Sainsbury's Local)Middlesbrough, Acklam, 123-125 Acklam Road (Sainsbury's Local)Middlesbrough, Bellevue/Grove Hill, 426 Marton Road (Spar)Middlesbrough, Dundas Arcade Shopping Centre. (In Shops)Middlesbrough, 333-337 Linthorpe Road, opp Albert Park (Central Park Café Bar)Middlesbrough, Eston, High Street (Abandoned, last traded as Presto) Middlesbrough, Marton-in-Cleveland, 14 Stokesley Road (Nisa)Middlesbrough, Nunthorpe, 99 Guisborough Road (Spar)Middlesbrough, Ormesby, 9 High Street (Farmfoods)Middlesbrough, Linthorpe Village, 469 Linthorpe Road (Co-operative Food)Middlesbrough, Tollesby Cawood DriveMiddlesbrough, Town Centre 60,Albert Road, (HSBC Bank)Newcastle upon Tyne, Clayton Street (demolished as part of reconstruction of the southern section of the Eldon Square Shopping Centre)Northallerton, 208 High Street (Morrisons)Norton, 10 High Street (closed after acquisition, replaced by new build Presto) (Boots)Penrith, King Street (became a Presto, closed in 1988 after a new Safeway store was opened nearby, became in turn a discount shopping centre then a Kwik Save, a Somerfield which was rebranded as a Co-operative Food store and became in 2015 an M&S Foodhall)Redcar, West Dyke Road (demolished, last traded as Kwik Save)South Shields, 335-345 Prince Edward Road (Sainsbury's) Stockton-on-Tees, Castlegate Shopping Centre, Units 101-106 (Closed after acquisition)Stockton-on-Tees, Whitehouse Farm, Bishopton Road (Sainsbury's)Stokesley, 44 High Street (Co-operative Food)Sunderland, The Bridges Shopping CentreThornaby-on-Tees, 1–2 Wrightson House (In Shops)Whitby, 45 Flowergate (Poundland)Yarm, High Street (Market Cross Jewelers / Hide Bar & Grill, original store closed after acquisition due to Presto store already trading nearby)York, Haxby, 39,The Village (Sainsbury's)