William Low, ( popularly referred to as Willie Low's ; latterly marketed as Wm Low ) was a chain of supermarkets based in Dundee, Scotland, until it was bought out by Tesco for £ 257m in 1994.

Wm Low almost doubled in size between 1976 to 1984 with sustained expansion and increased store sizes.

In 1976, Wm Low had a total of of floor space which by 1984 had become.

Wm Low also rose to be included as number 400 in the Times 1000, a list of top UK Companies in 1984, whereas in 1976 it was not even listed.

In 1984, Wm Low attempted but failed to take over Hintons, which later became part of Safeway.

In 1985, Wm Low took over Laws Stores at a cost of £ 7. 1 million., a group predominantly based in the north-east of England with a portfolio of smaller stores than Wm Low.

Wm Low proceeded to close unprofitable Laws stores in 1986.

Wm Low attempted to take over Budgens, a move described by Budgens as a friendly merger and which had looked to be a done deal.

Also in 1989, James Millar of Wm Low approached John Apthorp, owner of Bejam Freezer Centres to explore the possibility of merging the two brands.

John Apthorp explains that he could not see the idea going ahead as Wm Low were losing market share and the store portfolio did not lend itself well to the possibility of conversions to freezer centre formats.

In 1987, Wm Low had sold its frozen food chain, Lowfreeze, to Bejam for £ 3. 8 million.

Wm Low was one of the market leaders in Scotland in terms of market share, which was 7. 4 % in 1981, rising to 10. 4 % in 1984 and then 12. 7 % in 1986.

J Sainsbury launched a counter-bid of £ 210 million but this would have led to a break up of the Wm Low portfolio as they had intended to maintain the best stores and dispose of the rest.

The Scottish market leader at the time, The Argyll Group-Safeway-announced in July 1994 that it would not be making a bid for Wm Low.

Tesco formally took over Wm Low on 2 September 1994 for a total sum of £ 257 million.

The purchase of Wm Low doubled Tesco's Scottish market share from 7. 6 % to 15. 3 % in 1995.

Prior to the take over, sales had been falling at a rate of 6 %, a figure that Tesco reversed to a growth of 20 % by February 1996 and the former Wm Low stores contributed £ 11 million profit to the Tesco group.

Although the vast majority of old Wm Low stores have now been replaced with all-new Tesco stores, some branches retain some Wm Low format fixtures ( e. g. open grid false ceilings and blue / pink tiling in toilets ).

Once Rushden was home to one of the five Safeway megastores in the country until they were bought by Wm Morrison ; the store was then bought by Waitrose and turned into one of its five Food and Home stores which included a selection of home products from John Lewis.

Tesco Banff is the last obvious Wm Low style store left in the portfolio, having not undergone any refit since immediately after the takeover in 1996.

Dundee Lochee which was the last large Wm Low superstore closed on 7 February 2009, being replaced by Dundee South Rd which is now Scotland's largest Tesco store, spread out over 3 floors.

Wishaw Tesco moved to a purpose built store in November 2007 across from its original Wm Low store.

Wm Low Dundee Lochee Site remains on the market since the store was closed and business relocated to Dundee South Road.

Wm Low in Perth ( Victoria St branch ) lay empty for almost a decade before half of the premises being refitted and operated as a Matalan Store and the other half ( what used to be the supermarket warehouse ) now a store selling floor coverings and livingroom furniture.

In 2007, the former Wm Low store in Forfar closed, with Tesco moving to a new site at the northern end of the town centre.

The former Wm Low store in Goole, East Yorkshire, was taken over by Tesco, but this was relocated to a larger site on Boothferry Road in the late 1990s.

In 2010, Nike commissioned DJ Clark Kent to design a " Nike Five Boroughs AF1 Low " pack of special limited edition Air Force 1 shoes and unveiled them at fully catered a block party in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood on Mercer Street outside the Nike ID store at 21 Mercer.

** Shreve, Crump & Low jewelry store

* Low sightlines throughout the store designed for optimal visibility

A 1991 built Morrisons ( originally Safeway ) exists on the eastern edge of the town centre and the original Safeway on Kirk Road ( previously a William Low supermarket ), about from the new store, was a small market style mall and hosted various stalls and a café, however this mall closed on March 2009 and has been converted back to its supermarket form into B & M Bargains discount store.

The documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, shows one successful unionization of a Walmart store in Jonquière, Quebec ( Canada ) in 2004, but Walmart closed the store five months later because the company did not approve of the new " business plan " a union would require.

Most towns in the Tayside region had at least one large William Low store and it had branches throughout Scotland and North East England.

William Low was never successful in the city again with their store closing in the city only 3 years later.

The lawsuit claimed that Paul heard the album while in a record store, liked the tune and sampled 12 seconds of it for " Dip It Low ".

In 2010 Nike commissioned DJ Clark Kent to design a " Nike Five Boroughs AF1 Low " pack of special limited edition Nike Air Force 1 shoes and unveiled them at fully catered a block party in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood on Mercer Street outside the Nike ID store at 21 Mercer.

E. W. Hale moved to the area in the 1880s and opened a store near what is now Whitehaven High School on Elvis Presley Blvd.