Littlewoods was a retail and football betting company founded in Liverpool, England, by John Moores in 1923. By the 1980s, it had grown to become the largest private company in Europe but subsequently declined in the face of increased competition from rivals and the Internet. The original company – employing 4,000 people – was wound up in 2005; however, its brand name is retained by The Very Group as the online retailer Littlewoods.com. History The original company began in 1923 as a football pools (sports betting) company, known as Littlewoods Pools. After making a loss in the first season of operation, John Moores' original partners withdrew from the venture. Moores persisted with family assistance and by 1932 was in a position to expand the business into mail-order retailing. The first mail-order catalogue was sent to existing subscribers to the pools and the take-up, mostly women, formed 'clubs'. Effectively, they became retail agents, collecting money for goods ordered from the catalogue from friends and family and distributing goods shipped to them. The mail-order business expanded and the first Littlewoods high-street store opened in 1937 in Blackpool. Littlewoods grew as a retail and betting organisation and, at its height, there were about 25,000 employees working there. In 1982, it was the largest private company in Europe. At one time, it was also the largest family-owned firm in the UK. Littlewoods ran a division and e-commerce website dedicated to the Irish market but in July 2022 'Littlewoods Ireland' became 'Very Ireland', adopting the parent organisation's flagship brand name. Retail arm Littlewoods was among the key retailers to relocate from town-centre stores to new developments, mostly in enterprise zones, to take advantage of the financial incentives they offered. The Merry Hill store, which opened on 14 November 1989, was a notable example. The catalogue market was transformed with the emergence of the Internet and phone transactions slowly diminished after the mid-1990s. It was around this time that Littlewoods began closing its stores, with the outlet at Merry Hill in the West Midlands being one of the first outlets to close in 1996. In October 2002, the Moores family sold the shopping and catalogue business to David and Frederick Barclay for £750M. In 2004 Littlewoods was merged with Kays Catalogues to create the Littlewoods Shop Direct Group (now Shop Direct Group). The amalgamation of the two businesses led to the closure of many of both