Names Behind Retail Store Initials

Shopping strips and malls are littered with companies whose original names have now been replaced with initials. Those initials often reveal a pearl or interesting fact of the history of the company.
In some instances, businesses attempt to change the meaning of their initials. British Petroleum, better known to the world as BP, decided in 2000 that its name now stood for “beyond petroleum”.
B&M comes from Billington & Mayman as it was set up by Malcolm Billington but shortened to B&M for Bargain Madness.

Some initials quite obvious, depending on where you live. ANZ is the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group; BWS stands for “Beers, Wines and Spirits”.
H&M comes from the official name Hennes & Mauritz AB. It is a Swedish multinational clothing-retail company.
The ASOS fashion brand and online megastore started as a supplier of unbranded clothes to celebrities on TV and the idea was people could find clothes and accessories they had seen celebs wearing. Before long people started referring to AsSeenOnScreen as ASOS and in late 2000 the domain name www.asos.com was bought.
QVC comes from Quality Value Convenience. It sums up the service the shopping channel provides. QVC was set up by Joseph Segel in Pennsylvania in 1986 and it now broadcasts to over 350 million households in seven countries across the globe.
CVS pharmacy chain was founded in Lowell, MA in 1963, and was known as "Consumer Value Stores." Over time the name became abbreviated to simply CVS.

Kmart's big red K. Officially the K does not stand for anything and the brand has only ever read in Australia as “Kmart”. The American company’s history goes back to traveling salesman Sebastian Spering Kresge from Pennsylvania. In 1897, he opened his first store in Memphis and by the 1950s Mr Kresge had 600 stores bearing his surname. Do you remember SS Kresge? The stores began to convert to the simpler Kmart brand in 1962, the K is a nod to its founder. Kresge died in 1966.
JBL, the speaker company is named after its founder, James Bullough Lansing. He was born James Martini in 1902, but at 25, he changed his name to James Lansing.

KFC changed from Kentucky Fried Chicken and the public relations reason given for the name change was that health-conscious consumers associated the word “fried” with “unhealthy” and “high cholesterol.”

According to KFC, during 1991, Kentucky Fried Chicken decided on a name change to KFC. "In reality, we wanted to let our customers know that we had more for them to enjoy than just fried chicken, and many were already calling us KFC, as it was much easier to say."

Incidentally, KFC is owned by Yum! Brands. It operates Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and WingStreet worldwide.

Where did They Get That Name

I sometimes wonder where those crazy names originated, so I went looking.

CVS - When the pharmacy chain was founded in Lowell, MA in 1963, it was known as Consumer Value Stores. Over time the name became abbreviated to CVS.

K-Mart - Sebastian S. Kresge opened his first larger store in Garden City, Michigan, in 1962. The store was named Kresge's, then shortened to K-Mart.

IKEA - The Swedish furniture giant takes its name from found Ingvar Kamprad’s initials joined with a the first initial of the farm where he grew up, Elmtaryd, and the parish he calls home, Agunnaryd.

JBL - The speaker company is named after its founder, James Bullough Lansing. He was born James Martini in 1902, but when he was 25, he changed his name to James Lansing at the suggestion of his then future wife.

BVD - The men’s underwear maker was originally founded by Bradley, Voorhees, and Day to make women’s bustles. Eventually they branched into knitted union suits for men, and their wares became so popular that “BVDs” has become a generic term for any underwear.