Memories of Le Riches, Red Houses

It is hard to remember now, but the Le Riches building was demolished and rebuilt as "Checkers", part of the Sandpiper group. They had a Waitrose franchise, and then eventually, the store was wholly taken over by the Waitrose chain.

Le Riches Stores Limited was one of Jersey’s most historic brands, dating back to a grocery shop opened in 1818. Over the generations, it grew to dominate local commerce, establishing supermarkets and department stores across the island, including prominent hubs like the Red Houses Department Store in St. Brelade.

Responding to the UK's massive shift toward out-of-town supermarkets, Le Riches launched its own local superstore format in 1993, called Checkers. The larger, modern Checkers locations at Rue des Pres (St. Saviour) and Red Houses (St. Brelade) replaced older Le Riches structures.

In the 2000s, the parent company merged and evolved, eventually being acquired by SandpiperCI. Sandpiper maintained the Checkers superstores and used them to introduce UK-branded goods to islanders. For a couple of years, Sandpiper actually ran a supply agreement where Waitrose own-label products were sold on Checkers shelves.

This franchise trial paved the way for a permanent change. In 2010–2011, Sandpiper sold its entire large-supermarket division directly to the John Lewis Partnership. The final Checkers super-stores closed their doors for good in early 2011. The properties were completely refitted and opened as the Waitrose branches that islanders use today at Red Houses and Rue des Pres. Curiously there are still at least one Checkers store still open. And the checkered brick design is still present in the Red Houses underground car park.

The Upper Level: This floor was designed as a destination for services and leisure. It hosted the hairdresser, dentist, and a café where locals met for coffee. The toy department on this floor was a major attraction for local children, especially during the holidays.

We used to go there regularly with our young children, especially on rainy days, usually to enjoy coffee and tea cakes, while the kids had soft drinks and rusks, and later tea cakes. There is nothing like a buttered tea cake! Toys were an added occasional bonus if the children were good!

We also took our son Martin (who is autistic) to the hairdresser when they were not quite so busy as back then it was easier than a more noisy and longer waiting time at a barber. The hairdresser (Debbie?) later moved to Industria House ground floor (over the road at Red Houses).

Upstairs for a time was the offices of National Westminster bank, where as I student, I opened my very first bank account and saw the Bank Manager. Nowadays that moniker has long gone out of fashion, replaced by various "Financial Directors"  but in its day, that personal touch counted. The main bank with counters was at Les Quennevais Precinct, until it closed. The legacy of the bank remains in the cash point machine at Waitrose.

The Ground Level: This floor focused on high-traffic retail. It featured a dedicated travel agent, a record department for music lovers, and the original food hall.

I think the travel agent was Troys. The record department had lots of LPs and in my early 20s, I used to spend many a happy half hour browsing seeing what was there - ABBA, Kate Bush, the Carpenters and many more. Those were the days of 33 1/3 rpm long playing records - vinyl, now making a come back, and the record sleeves art work or photographic montages were also often amazing. I also bought some 45rmp singles. All gone now, which is a shame, as vinyl is making a comeback.

I nearly forgot - the Post Office! The postmaster was a rather grumpy fellow who tended to make hours more to suit himself that the customer. I remember dashing over from my work place at 3.50 pm to make it before he closed at 4.00 pm. Sadly he had already shut shop early.

The foodhall was fairly small and always had an odd smell around the cheese counter which suggested some of the French cheese was rather over ripe.

The original food hall occupied only a fraction of the ground floor. When the building was demolished, the new Checkers structure consolidated all those scattered specialty departments into a single, massive, open-plan supermarket floor.

I remember being volunteered for a Lions Club trolly dash - going round with a number of pensioners, and grabbing as much stuff as they wanted off the shelves. It was rather fun. My work (a firm of accountants) was on the top floor of Centre Point across the road (where M&S is now, but had before we moved in a light fittings sales area above the House of Jerome on the ground floor).

Back in the day, they also had their own brand carrier bags! I took some to University.