Waitrose is a British supermarket chain owned by the John Lewis Partnership. It trades mainly in London and the South East of England, originally formed by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor. The company was taken over by The John Lewis Partnership in 1937. Waitrose is an upmarket supermarket, similar to Marks and Spencer's food halls.
In 2004 Waitrose purchased a number of former Safeway stores from Morrisons. Morrisons was obliged to sell more than fifty of Safeway's stores to meet competition regulations when it acquired Safeway, and the first batch of stores sold, and the largest group by number went to Waitrose. It was speculated that Morrisons preferred to sell to Waitrose rather than to its larger rivals.
Waitrose's profits continue to increase year on year and is known for offering many unique services such as the 'By invitation' range of products, which are made to order foods for special occasions. Waitrose also offers a wide range of other services including home delivery, a wines service, and a broadband internet service in which a proportion of the price goes to charity.
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