The stationary store, which had been a town centre staple for more than 200 years, was sold off earlier this year to investment firm Modella Capital and rebranded with a fictitious “family” name
The rebrand of beloved high street store WH Smith has been mocked by Brits as being “pointless and idiotic” after several stores opened with makeshift signs. One social media photo showed a banner with its new name TG Jones barely cover its old logo.
The stationary store, which had been a town centre staple for more than 200 years, was sold off earlier this year to investment firm Modella Capital, which also owns Hobbycraft in a deal with £76m.
As part of the deal, its 464 high street stores have been rebranded as TG Jones starting from about June, while WH Smith has retained its brand for its travel shops in railway stations, airports and hospitals.
A company spokesman said earlier this year of the new name: “Jones carries the same sense of family and reflects these stores being at the heart of everyone’s high street. It’s obviously based on another familiar surname – Smith, Jones.”
But as the fictitious “family” brand name was rolled out across the UK, many Brits were bemused and took to social media to mock the re-christened stores. One said: “TG Jones such an awful rebrand with a terrible logo. From now on I shall always think of it as WT F***.”
Another social media user shared a photo of his local store with a new banner covering the original name, with part of WH Smith still visible beneath it. He quipped: “High quality rebrand here.”
In response, an X user raged: “And an absolutely pointless one. It’ll always be Smiths. Also, not sure the name was the problem, more like the shitshow in their stores. Tidy them up and they’ll be laughing.”
Another said: “Could some marketing genius explain. You have a supremely well trusted household brand name that has been a feature of the high street for over a century. Everyone knows who it is and what it does. Why would you ditch this in favour of a brand name no-one has ever heard of?”
A third said of the sign: “TG Jones – easy for you to say – rebrand of the year award? A few school children were even seen laughing at the Brand name & one was heard saying, why did they not make the cover sign longer, I bet they think they wanted to show it was WH Smith?”
Elsewhere, another social media user said: “My local TG Jones has placed a sandwich board outside telling everyone that it’s the same shop as the former WH Smith and sells all the same products they had before. The must be losing customers. This must be the most idiotic rebrand in history.”
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