David Evans (department store)

David Evans & Co was formed in 1900 by a partnership involving a local draper David Evans, Soloman Andrews – a prominent Cardiff businessman who owned property in Swansea and his son Francis Emile Andrews.

However the advent of the First World War had seen difficult trading, and David Evans left the business selling his shares to the Andrews family.

[1] The business however fared worse during the Second World War, when the building was destroyed by German bombs and the business operated out of rented property until a new building was erected on the site of the former store in 1954.

[1] The company however grew after the Second World War, by first buying the old Capitol cinema in Port Talbot and turning it into a furniture store in 1948,[2] before buying Port Talbot business W J Williams in 1951 and 10 years later opening a brand new store in the town of Cwmbran.

[1] In 1958, the Swansea store was expanded and by 1959 included a newly installed Food Hall.