A long surviving outdoor fashion retailer that started life in Liverpool collapsed after the UK suffered a devastating health crisis in the early noughties.
With its head office in Garston, Famous Army Stores (FAS) had been trading in Liverpool since the 1940s before becoming a limited company in 1981. The stores sold camping equipment, survival clothing, footwear and army surplus supplies.
But it wasn't just seasoned all-weather campers and survivalists that shopped at FAS. The stores were also popular with teenagers and students who had a penchant for wearing army style clothing, particularly boots.
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However, the retailer's biggest success came in the 1990s when the demand for combat trousers boomed. Jeans were out of fashion while the popularity of the multi-pocketed trousers rocketed after they worn by music artists including members of girl band All Saints.
High street retailers jumped on the trend selling pairs of the sought after trousers at around £40 a pair. However, FAS was the go-to place for combat trousers, selling theirs for half the price.
Although the business has traded for over 60-years the major turning point came when the founding Wilson family sold the business to a management team in 1996. Following the takeover, the chain grew from 100 stores to 200 across Britain, with a turnover of £50 million and profits of £2.2 million in 1998.
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With the outdoor clothing retailer going from strength-to-strength, the company began selling its stock online in 1999, reaffirming its growing status in the modern retail market. During this time. there were three FAS branches in Liverpool alone, those being Ranelagh Street, Williamson Square and in Bootle.
But it was during the first couple of years of the new millennium that things started to go wrong. In 2001, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism.
2,000 cases of the disease were detected on farms across most of the British countryside. In an attempt to halt the spread of the disease, over 6 million cows and sheep were killed and large parts of the countryside was closed off for seven months.
During this time, demand for the company's outdoor equipment and clothing disappeared leaving FAS with costs of sustaining 200 branches and 1,500 employees with no income. Another factor that contributed to drop in sales was that retail rivals such as Matalan, were now selling outdoor clothing.
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Eventually, the company went into administration in 2002 and 47 of its remaining stores were bought up by Blacks Leisure Group who owned rival outdoor retailers Blacks and Millets. Despite the demise of FAS, the chain is still well remembered in Liverpool and beyond, and regularly appears on lists of lost stores people would love to return.
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