High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Robbs is a mid-size department store in Hexham, owned by Beales. It was set up and created in 1819 by William Robb and expanded in the 1920s and 1980s respectively. It has had a long and extravagant history. It has been owned by Merchant Retail and Owen Owen in the past, before it was bought by the newly formed Vergo Retail in 2007.