Changes at the top at Creasey’s

Outgoing managing director Peter Creasey becomes chairman, replacing brother Tony who remains as a director.

Jonathan Creasey takes over as managing director, while Ben Creasey becomes company secretary. The changes came into effect on Friday 1 August.

The firm is currently involved in two large projects – the expansion and upgrading of the department store on the High Street, and the redevelopment of St Martin’s Marks & Spencer Food Hall. Peter Creasey intends to remain involved in them, even as his day-to-day presence becomes less frequent and ‘at arm’s length’.

‘I grew up in the family business, and I remember my father kept coming to work into his quite late senior years,’ he said. ‘I realised a few years ago that I was in danger of sleepwalking into doing just that.

‘We’re in a different position today than when my father and uncle retired, in that we now have a much stronger management team.’

With his son Ben having joined the firm in April, and nephew Jonathan – who has worked at the business for 15 years – becoming managing director, he said that ‘this is the right time to step back and give others the opportunities I enjoyed’.

Looking back at his time at Creasey’s he said that the growth of Marks & Spencer food had ‘transformed’ the business and continues to be a substantial part of it.

‘I’m sure the family ethos has been at the heart of our success over the years. We’ve always been a very paternalistic company and we look after our staff, we do the right thing,’ he said. One unwelcome aspect that has changed over the years is ‘legislative creep’ with all the associated increases in regulation and bureaucracy, and Peter said that he sometimes felt more of an ‘administrator’ in a compliance role, than a retailer.

All four board members felt that it was an ‘exciting’ time for the changes to be taking place. Ben, a chartered accountant, is the most recent member of the family to join the business.

'Now felt like the right time, with the incumbent financial controller retiring, it was the perfect opportunity to fit into a role suited to my experience. I’m excited and honoured to be a part of this next chapter for Creasey’s,’ he said.

Outgoing chairman Tony Creasey, who will remain a director, has been involved in major projects at the shop before. ‘I joined the business in 1975 and was involved when we took out the huge granite dividing walls between 15, 17 and 19 High Street. We rebuilt the main staircase and installed a new lift, redesigned all the shop floors and created the coffee shop where the attics had been.’

New managing director Jonathan Creasey – a familiar sight at Creasey’s, who is also involved with the Guernsey Retail Group – said that there had been a smooth transition to his taking over the role, as Peter had moved to working a couple of days a week two months ago.

‘For the immediate future, nothing really changes, as we have great management teams running both of our businesses,’ he said. On the investment into expanding Creasey’s High Street presence, he said that investing in the ‘heart’ of Town was absolutely the right place to do it. ‘There’s still a great future for the High Street,’ he said. ‘Town and the High Street are so important for our island community.’

While the store has many loyal customers, they are hoping to attract new ones, and in September, customers would be shopping in new areas within the new development.

‘We’ve got a lot of potential customers who haven’t shopped with us for a number of years, and we need to woo them into the new space,’ he said. ‘The space we’re creating is phenomenal and the brands we’re talking to are amazing.’

In St Martin’s, a temporary structure will be erected in the car park as the current shop is essentially rebuilt. It is anticipated that this will take around a year, and with the High Street renovations having approximately 15-18 months to go, 2026 and beyond are likely to be busy times for the family firm.

Creasey’s was founded in 1899 by Peter and Tony’s great grandfather, Benjamin Creasey. He was joined by his son, Victor Creasey when the limited company was formed in 1922. After World War II, Ivan (Peter and Tony’s uncle) and Dennis (their father) joined the business, before handing the reins to the brothers.