From humble beginnings as a grocer and draper in Woodbridge, to printing and publishing out of St James Printing Works in Whitefriars, the eighth-generation family business is now most famous for its flagship London Street department store in Norwich.

Jarrolds' flagship Norwich department store in London Street (Image: Jarrolds) Now, the changing face of the high street and ever-rising costs mean Jarrolds is having to evolve once more.

The independent department store doesn't have the scale to compete with the prices of online retailers and national chains such as Amazon and John Lewis.

Instead, it has shifted its focus to experiential retail; opening seafood and Italian restaurants, wine bars, a deli, a cheese and charcuterie bar, a Parisian-inspired café, beauty rooms and a nail bar.

It has also expanded its offering into other parts of the county, taking over the popular Back to the Garden restaurant, café and farm shop in north Norfolk earlier this year, which has now become Jarrolds Letheringsett.

And it is now pushing ahead with plans for an 88-bedroom, five-star hotel in St James Mill – the Grade I-listed former home of Jarrolds Printing on the River Wensum.

READ MORE: Jarrolds provides update on five-star hotel plans

Jarrolds chief executive Nick Steven-Jones at St James Mill in Whitefriars, which it plans to turn into an 88-bedroom, five-star hotel (Image: Denise Bradley) “It is no secret that the high street and retail are changing,” said Jarrolds' chief executive Nick Steven-Jones.

“We’ve had to evolve into more of a hospitality, leisure and choice activity.

“If people know exactly what they want to buy, they are just going to buy it where they can find it cheapest........

© Eastern Daily Press