In 1908 Allder's family sold the business to J. W. Holdron and F. C. Bearman, owners of stores in
Balham and
Leytonstone respectively. They developed the store into 50 departments with 500 staff and owned the business until 1921. It then passed to the Lawrence family, under whose control it became a limited company. The son of D. A. Lawrence, S. John Lawrence, was kept on by UDS as managing director. Allders continued to expand, reaching £1 million turnover in 1958 and £3 million by 1963. Fashion's importance declined, with household items taking a greater role. In the 1960s there was considerable change in Croydon, particularly the construction of the
Whitgift Centre to the north of Allders, into which the store expanded, and the creation of the St George's Walk development. Transport and lifestyle changes led to greater competition with the
West End and further improvements were required to modernise the store. The section fronting George Street was rebuilt and expanded, retaining a Victorian facade, alongside a new addition. Rebuilding works continued into Dingwall Avenue and by 1976 Allders had 1,700 staff and 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of floor space. It was a Croydon landmark and became the third-largest department store in the UK, after
Harrods and
Selfridges. It had the largest carpet department in Europe, amongst other claims. Croydon was by this time a major retail centre. Allders' immediate competitor, Kennards, was renamed
Debenhams in 1973, along with many other Debenhams stores. To compete with the central buying and advertising of Debenhams and other large groups, the department stores owned by UDS were brought together in a new subsidiary company, Allders Department Stores Limited, in 1978. The stores were gradually renamed Allders. This process began with Shinners of
Sutton in 1979 and later Hinds of
Eltham, Medhursts of
Bromley, James Page of
Camberley, Mackross of Cardiff, Willis Ludlow of
Hull and Landport Drapery Bazaar (LDB) in
Portsmouth. Only
Arding & Hobbs at
Clapham Junction in London, John Farnon in
Newcastle upon Tyne and the Clover furnishing stores in
Leeds city centre and
Kirkstall retained their original identities. A new geometric logo of ten orange 'A's arranged in a circle on brown and cream-coloured stationery, bags and carpets appeared across the group, together with the phrase "All that a great store should be". In 1983 the Lyons family sold the UDS Group to
Hanson plc and Allders became a flagship company of the group, with
Lord Hanson appearing on Allders' roof in TV adverts. Allders expanded with new stores opening in
Basildon and
Chatham and in many international airports as
duty-free concessions. A new 'Fourth Floor' was built on the roof of the Croydon store to house a new Audio and Television Department and two new restaurants as well as a link into the staff areas of London House on Dingwall Avenue. The group's brown, cream and orange livery was replaced with a scheme of light blue and gold lettering on a dark blue background. In 1989 a
management buyout saw the international arm spun off as a separate company. There was continued upheaval in Croydon with the complete refurbishment of the Whitgift Centre and of parts of the store. The vast carpet department was contracted to a secondary location allowing for the creation of a new perfumery and cosmetics hall at the centre of the ground floor. A new Allders store of opened at
Woking in 1992. Allders plc was floated on the stock market in 1993. The growth of the group rapidly accelerated following stock market flotation with the acquisition of existing stores and the building of new ones. This began with the acquisition of
Nottingham Co-op's lease on their Broad Marsh Centre store and the development of a chain of stand-alone home furnishing stores. The opening of a second Clover store at
Rotherham was succeeded by the development of "At Home with Allders" a concept for new stores in out-of-town
retail parks, the first of which opened at
Aylesford in
Kent in 1994. The Clover stores were both rebranded. In September 1996 Allders purchased a number of department stores from the
Owen Owen group that traded under the
Lewis's and Owen Owen names. This included branches in
Basingstoke,
Coventry,
Ilford,
Leeds,
Oxford,
Redditch and
Slough. In 1997 Allders acquired the bankrupt
Maples furniture brand and seven of its retail outlets. These stores were integrated into the Allders At Home portfolio and brought the brand to town centre locations in
Bromley,
Chelmsford,
Crawley,
Kingston upon Thames,
Reading,
Sutton Coldfield and
Watford. The Bromley outlet, in direct competition with the town's main Allders store, was soon disposed of. The Kingston store, offering a range focussed solely on furniture, beds and carpets, struggled to compete with
Bentalls and
John Lewis. This competition in the town and the frontage of the store being obscured for some time whilst work on the Kingston Bridge was carried out led to the store's closure within two years. A second Kingston store was later opened in the former
C & A building, offering a broader range of merchandise for the home. ==Decline==