Everyone loves a bargain and one family-run North-East company has gone a long way on that buisness plan, with the fifth generation of the family now running the company. Francis Griss looks at the history of Boyes.

PRIMITIVE Methodist William Boyes, born in 1859, started his working life as an apprentice draper at the firm of George and Collings.

As soon as he finished his apprenticeship, his ambition kicked in and, with £10 saved from his wages, he opened his first shop in Scarborough, at the corner of Eastborough and Globe Street.

More than 100 years later, William Boyes' great grandson, Andrew Boyes, is the current chairman and joint managing director of the "pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap" business.

His ancestor's business success in his first shop in Scarborough meant the Boyes net began to spread across Yorkshire and the North-East.

Towards the end of his life, the entrepreneur William Boyes said: "It had always seemed to me that there was an opening for anyone who would make it their special study to buy odd lots and remnants from manufacturers and merchants. I felt sure that if I bought well, they would find a ready market."

That philosophy proved to be a considerable understatement. Very soon the shop became too small and Boyes moved to an empty warehouse in Market Street, Scarborough.

The move was criticised because the warehouse had stood empty for four years and was in the wrong part of town, but the customers did not care.

Very soon he had to open the second floor and within ten years owned nearly all one side of Market Street.

The various buildings were converted in 1896 into one store called The Remnant Warehouse.

Today, Boyes in Scarborough it still known as The Rem.

Andrew Boyes said the idea of buying unwanted stock and selling it at bargain prices is still at the heart of the company's strategy today.

He said: "People have stock they want to move to make cash and we are there to take it off their hands at a price where we can offer really good value to our customers."

Expansion requires capital investment so, in 1900, Boyes became a limited company when William persuaded three friends, James Pirie, Henry Merrie Cross and JH Harrison, to support his vision.

The company expanded in Scarborough and in 1906, it opened a shop in York, followed by further expansion to Hull and Grimsby.

Stores in Newcastle and North Shields were opened, but failed to survive the depression.

As William grew older, his sons, George and Robert, joined the family business. George became a director in 1908 and Robert, who served in World War One and was a prisoner of war, joined in 1915.

He eventually became chairman from 1943 to 1962.

The two men were the first of many members of the Boyes family to work within the company, either within the stores or at board level.

Today, the fifth generation is making its contribution in the form of Toby, Matthew and Richard Boyes. Nine family members are employed by the firm. Andrew Boyes began working for the company as a teenager. He said: "It was as a 15-year-old in the summer holidays on menswear, I think. When I went to university I used to come back and do a bit of relief managing in the summer. Then I went to study retail in America for a while and came back to join the firm."

Other family members have pursued careers with nothing to do with retailing, such as medicine and farming. But their descendents still have a chance to prove themselves in the family firm.

Mr Boyes said: "It is a focus for the whole family. Those that are interested get a chance to work for us if they want it. It is down to the individual to prove themselves."