J J Allen was a small retail group that formed in 1860 in Bournemouth, Dorset, England.
The expansion included department stores Brights of Bristol & Bournemouth 1960, Brights & Colson of Exeter 1960, Cavendish House (Cheltenham) and Morgan Squire Leicester 1962.
[1] In 1961 JJ Allen bought the Cardiff department store James Howell & Co, but sold it for a substantial profit in 1962 to the Hodge group, managed by Dr Julian Hodge, a Welsh merchant banker.
In 1969 House of Fraser purchased JJ Allen for £5.3 million.
In 1971, House of Fraser purchased another department store group, Dingles group, and JJ Allen's west country stores were transferred to the Dingles division with the rest being transferred to the Harrods division.