About Pettits of Wallingford
Situated in the market town of Wallingford in Oxfordshire, Pettits was established on 6th March 1856 by Mr William Pettit who came from Newmarket, where his father was a saddle maker.
One of the largest and oldest businesses in Wallingford, the store remained in the Pettit family until 1987 when it was sold to the Rowse family, another local family firm well known for it’s honey production.
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Pettits beginnings
Pettits was started on 6th March 1856 by Mr William Pettit, then a young man who came from Newmarket.
Very shortly afterwards he was joined by his brother Thomas and the firm became known as W & T Pettit.
Starting to grow
William & Thomas were then joined by their respective son’s Henry and William Holland and also Mr Thomas Clifton, uncle of Mr H Franklin, a long serving member of the firm.
The son in charge!
Over the course of time various members dropped out until finally Mr Henry Pettit retired in 1932 leaving his son Robert H Pettit as sole proprietor.
New blood
Mr W B Stevens joined, shortly before the death of Mr R H Pettit.
After the deaths of Mr R A Pettit and Mr Stevens, the son and daughter of Mr R A Pettit, Robert S Pettit and Rachel Pettit continued to run the business until 1987
The Rowse family
The company finally left the Pettit family when it was sold to the Rowse family, another local family famed for its honey production.
The present Managing Director is Mr Richard Rowse.
All change
It was announced with great sadness that due to the decline in footfall that Pettits as a department store would close in March 2015.
The top two floors would be redeveloped into nine flats, with the ground floor being retained as a retail unit.
Our Menswear department relocated to 21 St Martin’s Street with our Ladies Fashion / Lingerie departments relocating to 19 St Martin’s Street. Our Housewares and Toy departments relocated to our sister store Champions at 7 St Mary’s Street.
Menswear refurbisment
In February 2017, the decision was made to refurbish our Menswear shop at 21 St Martin’s Street and open a new Ladies Fashion shop at 35 St Martin’s Street.
Menswear move
In October 2019, our Menswear shop moved to its current premises at 36 St Martin’s Street.