One amazing journey. One great destination.

One amazing journey.
One great destination.
THE STORY OF ARIGHI BIANCHI
ARIGHI BIANCHI.
THE HOME OF GREAT
HOME FURNISHING FOR
OVER 150 YEARS.
Arighi Bianchi has been part of the
furniture in Britain, quite literally, for
over 150 years.
In fact, it’s fair to say that the store has become
a great British institution, famous for its unique
building, levels of service that belong to a
gentler, more genteel era and family ownership
that continues to this day.
And we have our roots firmly planted in the
North West.
The North West of Italy, that is.
Because this great British furnishing institution
didn’t begin life in furnishing or in
Britain but in Italy and in silk.
FOLLOWING THE
SILK ROAD ALL THE
WAY FROM ITALY.
Like all good stories, that of Arighi Bianchi
with
hardship.
Like allbegins
good
stories,
that of Arighi Bianchi
Civil
war
was
raging
begins with hardship. around the tiny Italian
silk weaving town of Casnate, near Lake
Civil war was raging around the tiny Italian silk weaving
Como, way back in 1854.
town of Casnate, near Lake Como, way back in 1854.
2
Life must have been tough and the details are obscure
but one man decided to do something about it.
Because Antonio Arighi set off for his home town on foot and
headed north.
The good thing about this was he was leaving the civil war
behind him. The bad thing was that he had the Alps in front of him.
But, undaunted, Antonio Arighi pressed on. We don’t know how he did it but he
seems to have crossed the mountains using the St.Gothard
Pass and something even more remarkable.
A toboggan.
And we don’t know what mishaps he had to endure en route
but what we can be sure of is that, after a journey doubtless
lasting many weeks or months, he arrived, footsore and
saddle sore, in Macclesfield.
WHY MACCLESFIELD?
Because Macclesfield was in
those days itself a town of silk
weavers so, even though Antonio
was in a foreign country, he must
have felt himself to be amongst
his own people. And so it was
only natural for him to set up in
business in the town.
Making what else but, would you
believe, barometers and clocks.
3
Why Antonio Arighi suddenly developed a passion for making barometers
and clocks and hawking them to farmers in the local area rather than drawing
on his knowledge of the industry he knew so well will probably always remain
a mystery.
The Industrial Revolution had revolutionized manufacturing in Britain at the
time and perhaps he felt that his own homespun skills simply couldn’t
compete with the thundering machines that dominated the town. And, as
for his new-found passion for barometers, we can merely speculate that,
hailing from the sunny climes of northern Italy, he was especially struck by the
vagaries of the weather hereabouts.
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY,
BEFORE TRY
BEFORE YOU BUY.
No matter. Because nothing, but nothing,
was about to deter a man who’d taken on the
Alps and won.
So Antonio Arighi started his
own mini revolution in retailing. By inventing
‘Try Before You Buy’.
As with every revolution, this particular one started with a
thorny old problem: namely the leathery old local farmers
Antonio was trying to sell to. Because, however good the time
his clocks kept and however beautiful the burnished mahogany
cases of his barometers, these weather-beaten old skinflints
simply didn’t want to know.
to save him having to lug the thing back into town.
The farmer, perhaps even feeling a tiny pang of guilt, would take pity on him
and agree to help.Then, on Antonio’s return a few weeks later, he’d discover
that the farmer had become so attached to a device that had proved more
reliable than any number of red skies at night that he was more than happy to
part with his hard-earned pennies. The rest, as they say, is history.
‘Try Before You Buy’ became, and remains, highly popular with customers
and Antonio never looked back.
The business grew.
And so did the goods he was making. Quite literally.
As Antonio applied the skills he’d acquired manufacturing
barometers first to mirrors then to cupboards, cabinets
and bookcases.
ARIGHI BECOMES
ARIGHI BIANCHI.
At this point, in 1869, just as
Antonio Arighi’s business began
to take off, Antonio Bianchi himself took off from Casnate and headed for
Macclesfield to help him in the business. Antonio Bianchi
had recently married Antonio Arighi's niece,
so the two men who were now related, soon
became business partners. But there was more
than merely a family bond that drew
Arighi to Bianchi.
So Antonio hit upon a cunning ruse.
4
Upon pitching a barometer and receiving the customary
brush-off from one of these calloused sons of the soil, Antonio
would ask the man to look after it until he was back in the area
5
Because Antonio Bianchi was to provide something that was to
prove to be of inestimable value to the business.
He was a seasoned cabinet-maker himself.
Very soon Arighi’s sharp business brain
and Bianchi’s equally sharp saw produced a
partnership made in cabinet making heaven with orders flowing in from
such far-flung parts as the Potteries, Buxton and Manchester.
And, amazingly, invoices from this early
period still exist today. On the occasion of
the store’s 155th anniversary in 2009, our
nationwide search for the store’s oldest
invoice produced an overwhelming
response. (It seems that, in those days,
our customers held on to our invoices
as precious souvenirs or proof of
provenance). Thus far, a certain
Mrs. Venables holds the record with
an order dated 1870 for a walnut
cabinet, a pair of footstools and three
vases. And it’s interesting to note
that, even then, the store was
prepared to offer discounts to its
customers wherever it could.
Because the good Mrs. Venables’s
venerable invoice shows a
reduction of eight shillings and
sixpence on a price of seventeen
pounds eight and six!
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MR. ARIGHI
SAVES THE DAY.
AND THE TOWN.
In June of 1872, with orders
flooding in from far and wide,
something rather less welcome
flooded into the firm’s ‘island’ premises in Waters Green
as the nearby River Bollin burst its banks.
The river water rose to a depth of three feet in the lower room which was
stocked with precision turned timber and fine veneers. Planks of wood floated
out into the street and mattresses were ruined. While a horse in the stables
almost drowned but somehow managed to fight its way
free. But, if the flood waters threatened the business with
a minor disaster, they also threatened a major
one for the town.
All along the banks of the river, the town’s
commercial hub, factories and private
dwellings were flooded, beer on stillage
at the nearby Cross Keys pub was ruined and, as the waters
continued to rise higher for two successive nights, the flood, and
the panic it instilled in the populace, spread further and further afield.
However, Antonio Arighi hadn’t fought his way out of a civil
war and across Europe’s most daunting mountain range to be
defeated by a flood. Tough as the teak furniture the business had
become renowned for and with the help this time not of a sledge
but a sledgehammer, Arighi proceeded to tear down the hoarding protecting
the sides of the Buxton Road bridge, releasing the flood water and allowing the
river to flow away.
So we like to think that, of all the savings we’ve made for our customers over the
years, one very significant saving we made still stands out to this day!
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FURNISHING
HIGH SOCIETY WITH
ALL ITS NEEDS.
As the business grew, so did its
reputation with the local movers
and shakers of the day.
An order dated 1880 from the Lord Mayor of Macclesfield shows that he was
wallpapering and re-furnishing both his own home and the Mayor’s Parlour at
the Town Hall, for which he purchased 25 yards of tapestry carpet, mahogany
chairs with hair seats, a dining table, a swing glass, a ‘best’ fender with steel fire
irons and a skin hearth rug.
In 1884 the Registrar’s Office and County
Court bought office chairs and cushions.
Macclesfield Infirmary bought
brass bedsteads with engraved
nameplates. While the
Captain and Sergeant of
the militia barracks were
also regular customers.
Hadfield the chemist
bought a writing desk,
dining table, pair of easy
chairs, cane rocker, table,
towel rail and nine-piece leather
suite (the three-piece suite clearly
being insufficient for some middle class
Victorian needs!).
And, perhaps most intriguing of all, are orders for a regular supply of Pembroke
tables to Bullocks the photographers in Backwallgate.
The suspicion being that its customers appeared to like the table they were
photographed with so much that they would invariably insist on buying it!
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Having saved the Cross Keys ‘island’ site (and, more
importantly, the town) from the flood of 1872, in the
very same year Arighi and Bianchi came up against
something they were powerless to resist.
The inexorable tide of progress.
OUR VERY OWN
CRYSTAL PALACE.
The site was the subject of a compulsory purchase order as part of
the road widening scheme for the station approach. The buildings
were demolished and the firm forced to re-locate to Mill Lane in
nearby Sutton where it remained for the next ten years.
But business was growing apace as an old photograph
of the row of cottages it occupied there at the
time appears to illustrate. Antonio Bianchi
sits holding the reins of the company’s
delivery cart with Arighi standing beside
it in his trademark white apron and
hard hat. And, significantly, many
chests of drawers are lined up on the pavement ready
for delivery. Clearly, the new company of Arighi Bianchi
was fast outgrowing its premises. Which is why, in 1883,
the two partners moved into the rather more spacious
accommodation of the store’s current building, the old Silk Mill,
on what was then Commercial Road.
But even then there was something missing. The old mill’s industrial
atmosphere lacked the style and panache that customers had come to expect.
So, inspired by the famous Crystal Palace built for the 1851 Great Exhibition
in London, the two Antonios briefed a local builder, George Roylance, to
renovate the premises and construct a new four-storey building to complement
the existing structure, with an iconic façade featuring large Italianate plate glass
windows in ornamental arched iron frames.
9
The cost of altering the existing structure came in at £32.15s., while the
cost of building the new showroom and façade amounted to £212.10s. a
significant sum for that time. But suffice to say it was worth it: the new
store was a sensation when it opened for business in 1892.
In particular, the stunning new façade became a local icon that stands
to this day and a great talking point for passengers on the nearby
railway. Because Arighi Bianchi’s great exhibition of furniture had
acquired a flavour of the Great Exhibition itself.
To celebrate the new store’s grand opening, the Macclesfield
Courier and Herald gave away a four-page supplement showcasing the goods
on offer. This supplement provides us with a
remarkable insight into the furnishing
AN INVENTIVE
prerequisites of a smart Victorian
INVENTORY.
home. And here, amongst the typical
sideboards, overmantels and beds, the
antimacassars and the umbrella stands of the period, we
find some remarkable evidence of the store’s pioneering spirit.
Then, as now, the store was renowned for promoting and
championing exciting new ideas and furnishing trends.
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MOTORING AHEAD WITH BUSINESS.
Arighi Bianchi’s innovative spirit also saw the
store operating the first motorised
commercial vehicle in Macclesfield,
a real eye-opener in a world of
horse-drawn vans. And a particularly
poignant photograph still survives
of the vehicle’s very first driver, Edward
Connolly, who was sadly to die at the Battle of the Somme in 1917.
But motorized delivery wasn’t the company’s only innovative means of driving
business. It also pioneered mail-order with its promise that ‘Every attention
is devoted to letter orders’, underlining its undertaking to deal with orders by
mail on the very day they were received.
Not only that but this was to be a store for all, quaintly promoting ‘Goods for
all classes’ with the second floor offering cheaper bedroom suites for servants’
rooms and the ‘artisan’ class. While, finally, the two Antonios themselves both
changed their names to ‘Anthony’ to signify that they really were now here to
stay in their adopted homeland. And very soon they’d both be taking orders,
quite literally, from royalty itself.
So, for example, we find the ‘latest novelty’, a secretaire of
American invention ‘which by simply pulling the cover down locks the
whole of the drawers automatically’. And, in addition to the usual plain
browns, a revolutionary new inlaid linoleum ‘with an imperishable pattern’!
Exotic woods, such as American walnut and canary wood, were to be found
in abundance.While Arighi and Bianchi’s cosmopolitan world view and roving
eye were responsible for bringing to the store the very best that ‘the Continent’
had to offer, from Italian and ‘Parisian’ bedsteads to Brussels tapestries and
Genoa velvets, along with all manner of exotica from the Orient.
Word about the two Antonios’ (or Anthonys’)
FURNITURE FIT
remarkable emporium spread far and wide
FOR A KING.
until it even reached the ears of royalty.
In fact, when Edward the Seventh was still
Prince of Wales, the store received a number of orders
from Marlborough House and Sandringham.
And some of the receipts for these goods still reside in
the company’s archives.
Edward the Seventh
15
One of these orders is from Princess Alexandra, for a pair of
carved oak candlesticks priced at £2.9s.
She obviously liked what she saw because, a few years
later, on becoming Queen, she ordered another
two pairs. Only to find that the price had gone up
to £4.9s. Oh well. We imagine that she
could afford it!
In between the wars, Anthony’s, son Enrico
Bianchi (who never did become ‘Eric’ as far
as we’re aware!) brought a whole new
dimension to the store by
importing wonderful fabrics,
IMPORTING FROM ALL
including tapestries, damasks,
OVER EUROPE, EXPORTING
cretonnes, lace and velvets, from
TO ALL OVER BRITAIN.
all over continental Europe.
Not only that but Enrico went even further by creating
and printing his own designs. And, as the company’s import
business grew, so did its exports to the four corners of the country
and beyond.
While its wholesale fabric division became so
successful that it completely
overshadowed the furniture side
of the business which was kept
going through the passion
of Enrico’s youngest brother,
John Ernest.
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FROM AUSTERITY TO PROSPERITY.
Unfortunately, the outbreak of World War Two put paid to the company’s
wholesale fabric division with the business being finally sunk, quite
literally, when a torpedo destroyed one final consignment in
the South Atlantic on a ship bound for South America.
After the war, in common with the rest of the world,
Arighi Bianchi struggled to pick up the pieces.
But, in the fine tradition of their father, Enrico and John
Ernest set about restoring the company’s fortunes.
They leased the Commercial Road premises, which
had lost its passing trade, to WK Lowe Knitwear and
opened a sparkling new shop in Chestergate.
With Enrico’s death in 1956, ‘Mr. John’, as he came
to be known, became chairman, a role he continued
to perform until his death in 1992 at the grand old
age of 96.
Upon taking over the running of the business, Mr. John’s sons,
Anthony and Paul, secured an injection of capital and initiated a
programme of refurbishment that would include a new rear entrance
and a lift. And, with the increasing availability of merchandise, the
store finally emerged from the austerity of the immediate post war
RELIEF FROM THE
years and embarked upon a period of growth and prosperity.
RELIEF ROAD. A
In 1970, plans for the long-mooted North-South
Macclesfield Ring Road were finally approved.
LANDMARK DECISION.
Which would have been all very well except that it meant that once
again a compulsory purchase order was served on the company,
which was told to find new premises.
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today’s world, in the bond we forge with our customers, not just as customers
but friends. We intend to maintain this tradition into this, our third century in
business, and beyond. And it’s our firm belief that we will.
Enrico’s nephews, sons of his youngest
brother, John, had by now taken over the
business and consequently took up the
fight to save the building with its famous
façade. And they weren’t alone.
One of the great defenders of Britain’s architectural heritage, the celebrated
poet Sir John Betjeman, joined them in the struggle as did The Architectural
Review, The Victorian Society and hundreds of local people who signed a
petition protesting against the plans.
Sir John Betjeman
And, in this instance, we’re glad to say, people power won the day and
the building at last received the official recognition it deserved, along with
a ‘Grade 2 *’ listing. It was a landmark decision.
Which meant the whole town could
KEEPING THE
breathe a sigh of relief.
FAMILY FIRM.
In over 150 years in business, at
Arighi Bianchi there is one thing, we
believe, that holds the key to our success. The family has always stayed
firm. And the firm has always stayed family.
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Arighi Bianchi is a fourth-generation family-owned business. Today, the
immediate descendants of Antonio Bianchi hold the reins at the store.
What this means is that the principles, ethics and standards first established
by Antonio in the mid-nineteenth century are still adhered to
even today. And, just as our fine old building has seen several
generations of Bianchis at the helm, so too has it seen
successive generations of our customers’ families come through
the door.It is this sense of continuity, and community, that we
believe makes Arighi Bianchi not just special but unique in
One of the great things about being able to
look back on over 150 years of history is the
ability to retain those things from the past
that really are worth retaining.
WRAPPING UP THE
PRESENT IN THE PAST.
And, no, we don’t mean horse-drawn vans or furniture for servants
and ‘artisans’. Or even linoleum ‘with an imperishable pattern’!
But principally the one thing the Victorian era is justly famous for.
Service. That’s why, at Arighi Bianchi, you’ll find all the latest trends in
home furnishing combined with levels of service and expertise that
really do derive from a previous age. For example, Try Before You Buy
is a service that our customers still enjoy to this day. Except that, today, it’s
no longer a means of persuading crusty old farmers to part with
their hard-earned cash but a way of ensuring that our
customers are happy with their purchase. That it
actually fits the bill before they pay it in fact. We also
still offer a pre-delivery inspection service to make
sure, for example, that the four-poster bed that looked
so stunning in the showroom will look equally stunning
in your bedroom.
We deliver for just £25 within a 50-mile radius. And we won’t just leave your
furniture on the doorstep for you to manhandle. We assemble and
position it just where you want it. And we'll take away your old furniture and
donate it to our charity for re-use by people who genuinely need help.
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Our free personal shopper
service makes shopping easy.
While our comprehensive aftercare service
gives you the peace of mind that, should any
problem arise in that period, we'll do our best
to take care of it. But that’s not all. Because at
Arighi Bianchi we believe that today the term ‘shop assistant’ has become
something of a misnomer. Shop almost anywhere on the High Street and
you’ll get precious little assistance at all.
Here, however, things are different. Even a little old fashioned.
And we’re sure our staff won’t mind us describing them as a little old-fashioned
too. In the best possible sense, of course. So don’t expect plus fours and
tailcoats, but experience, expertise and a wealth of knowledge, qualities that
have become something of an anachronism in this day and age.
But this doesn’t just apply to those staff members who’ve been with us for
decades. Our younger staff, too, are trained to a high level before being let
loose on the sales floor. For us, of course, they’re the future. But we also like
to make sure that even they keep one foot firmly planted in the past.
FAMOUS BRANDS UNDER
ONE VERY FAMOUS ROOF.
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Of course, when all’s said and done, it’s
not the store’s wonderful iconic façade
that’s the most important thing about
Arighi Bianchi. It’s what lies behind it.
And what lies beneath that very famous roof. Many famous furnishing brand
names are housed here, each hand-picked by our expert buyers to offer the
ultimate collection of contemporary and traditional furniture, beds, lighting,
carpets and fabrics.
It’s what lies behind what lies behind our famous façade that’s all important.
And here again the present owes a great deal to the legacy of the past.
Because, with 150 years or more of scouring the globe for the
best in furnishing design, we know precisely where to look to find the best
quality and value.
Today this wealth of experience and know-how has enabled us to
source and offer our customers famous brand names throughout every
department of the store. All brought
together under one roof by the equally
EXCITING NEW
famous brand of Arighi Bianchi.
ARRIVALS AND MAJOR
NEW DEPARTURES.
The most recent arrivals at
Arighi Bianchi represent some
major new departures for the store.
ercol
The opening of the North West’s biggest and best Stressless recliners studio,
for a start, has proved a major success. The new Natuzzi and Halo galleries
add a real dash of excitement. While our new Ercol showroom
showcases solid English craftsmanship at its very best.
The arrival of Italian style leaders Kartell has introduced our
customers to the colourful and often zany world of Philippe Starck.
As recognized style leaders ourselves, we’ve also developed our own radical
new looks for interiors that fly right in the face of conventional wisdom.
While our appetite for unearthing the very latest style trends
and technological innovations, wherever in the world
they are to be found, remains undiminished.
In other words, the quest goes on.
So all we can say is watch this space.
All 65,000 square feet of it.
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Finishing Touches by Arighi Bianchi is an exciting interiors department
that covers, quite literally, all those little designer touches that bring warmth,
personality and life to your home: curtains, wallcoverings, linens, throws
and cushions.
FINISHING TOUCHES
BY ARIGHI BIANCHI.
THE LAST WORD IN STYLE.
Here you’ll find top brands such as Andrew Martin,
Sanderson, Osborne & Little and Harlequin:
everything you need in fact to add that very
personal, finishing flourish.
OUR INTERIOR DESIGN SERVICE.
BECAUSE YOU’RE NEVER FREE, WE ARE.
At Arighi Bianchi, we appreciate how the pace of life has accelerated since
we started out in the 1850s. The chances are you’ll be holding down a
demanding job and trying to run a household all at the same time. Which is
why, if you can never find any free time, you might just appreciate our free
interior design service.
There’s advice on whole room concepts, help with swatches and colour
schemes, loan of pattern books, estimates and measuring up right through to
complete furnishing schemes that include furniture, furnishings and interior
decoration with individual project management and installation.
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OVERSEEING YOUR PROPERTY OVERSEAS.
If you’re buying a property overseas, it can be even more difficult to manage
the interior scheme from so far away. Fortunately, here at Arighi Bianchi
we have a wealth of experience in developing and overseeing whole house
furnishing schemes for clients buying abroad. Just ask in-store for details.
It’s fair to say that, with the
opening of Café Bar Arighi, we’ve
become almost as famous for
feeding our customers with
delicious freshly-prepared food
as we are for feeding them with fresh furnishing ideas. And, in keeping with
everything here, every dish is a perfect example of good taste. In every respect.
CAFÉ BAR ARIGHI.
OUR GOOD TASTE
EXTENDS TO FOOD.
Inspired by yet a third innovative Antonio, Chef Restaurateur Antonio Conti,
Café Bar Arighi offers an exciting new menu of stylish and imaginative dishes,
for a satisfying lunch or a light snack, from hearty peasant soups to perfect
melt-in-the-mouth paninis and from light-as-a-feather linguini-al-salmone to
fish and chips with a twist. We make our own scrumptious cakes and fluffy
scones every day in our very own bakery. Our wine list puts the emphasis on
zesty whites and full-bodied reds from Italy. Our Italian origins also serve us
well in serving up what we believe to be the best espresso this side of the
Mont Blanc tunnel!
While the ambience of Café Bar Arighi, much like the food, is light, elegant and
sophisticated, making it the perfect spot to meet
with friends, take a re-energising pitstop or mull
over prospective purchases at your leisure.
And perhaps even to reflect for a moment on one
of the world’s great furnishing destinations, the
destination, as we like to say, for inspiration, its
colourful and eventful past and its stylish exciting present.
Because if you’ve arrived here, as Antonio Arighi and
Antonio Bianchi did all those years ago, you might well get
the sense that, having been round the houses and the
warehouses and the furniture floors of department stores,
at last you really and truly have arrived.
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Design>Production: propelleragency.co.uk
MACCLESFIELD SINCE 1854
Arighi Bianchi, The Silk Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 1LH. Tel 01625 613333. www.arighibianchi.co.uk
UPHOLSTERY / DINING / OCCASIONAL / BEDS / BEDROOM / FLOORCOVERINGS / FABRICS / ACCESSORIES