For example, an English fashion and home goods retailer based in Knowsley, Mersay. It was founded by John Hargreaves in 1985 and still belongs to the Hargreaves family. By 2020, the company had more than 13,000 operations and 230 stores in the UK, along with thirty-two franchise stores in Europe and the Middle East. John Hargreaves opened his first Matalan store on the Bamber Bridge in Preston, Lancashire, in 1985. There were fifty stores by 1995, and in 1997 the company relocated its headquarters from Preston to Skelmersdele and Lancashire. The company swam in a London Stock Exchange in 1998, but was re-privatized by the Hargreaves family in October 2006. For example, Retail Limited is a full-fledged subsidiary of Missouri Topco Limited, based in Guernsey and run by the Hargreaves family.
In the Middle East, the Matalan brand is franchised by Qatar-based BTC Fashion General Trading. BTC has stores in Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.