Headquarters Great Yarmouth Number of employees 400 | Founded 1837 Type of business Retail | |
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Liftwise lift palmers department store in bury st edmunds avi
Palmers Department Store is an independent and family-run department store located in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. The company boasts that it is the 'longest established independent department store in the country'.
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History
Palmers can trace its history back to June 1837 when Garwood Burton Palmer opened a small linens and drapery shop in Great Yarmouth Market Place. In 1844 his younger brother Nathaniel Palmer joined the business. In 1888, when Garwood Palmer died at the age of 73, the business transferred into the hands of Nathaniel Palmer's sons and the business became known as Palmer Brothers. The shop was the first building in Great Yarmouth to be illuminated by electricity in the town in 1902.
Palmers has survived two major fires and bomb damage. Palmers is still owned and run by descendants of the store’s original founder. The company expanded in the 1990s and 2000s taking on stores in Bury St Edmunds, Dereham and Lowestoft. It has previously had a branch in Red Lion Street, Norwich.
In 2012 a blue plaque was placed outside the Conservative Club of Gorleston by the Great Yarmouth Local History and Archaeological Society, to commemorate the former home of the founder Garwood Burton Palmer.
In 2014 the Dereham store was sold to Basil Todd, and closed in March 2015.