GRcade

Debenhams 'seeks to close 50 stores' in radical overhaul


Debenhams is understood to be seeking to close 50 of its 166 stores in a radical overhaul as it prepares to reveal a record £500m loss.

The struggling department store chain has previously said 10 stores were earmarked for closure over the next five years but has raised that target.

The retailer's survival plan, which was first reported by Sky News, will affect about 4,000 jobs.

Debenhams, which declined to comment, reports annual results on Thursday.

About 25 store leases are due to expire over the next five years, although the company will not necessarily want to close all of those outlets.

Debenhams will have to negotiate ending other leases with landlords, many of which may be reluctant to do so given the headwinds facing retailers.

The chain has been under increased scrutiny since rival House of Fraser collapsed in August.

Winckle wrote:I heard on the radio an executive from Debenhams saying "we need to focus more on our online sales". Come on, you've lost that area to Amazon. Everyone has.

Gemini73 wrote:

Winckle wrote:I heard on the radio an executive from Debenhams saying "we need to focus more on our online sales". Come on, you've lost that area to Amazon. Everyone has.

That's half the problem with a lot if these big chains. They thought they were invincible and could just trundle along as normal even though the rise of online shopping saw consumers buying and spending a it's changing dramatically.

Winckle wrote:I heard on the radio an executive from Debenhams saying "we need to focus more on our online sales". Come on, you've lost that area to Amazon. Everyone has.

RichardUK wrote:

Winckle wrote:I heard on the radio an executive from Debenhams saying "we need to focus more on our online sales". Come on, you've lost that area to Amazon. Everyone has.

I think shops like Debenhams can still survive but probably with less stores and improving the remaining stores to give the customer a better experience, I use Amazon mainly for things like games, I don’t and wouldn’t imagine many people buy clothing from Amazon so that’s a large sector they can focus on, also try to get people to be more brand loyal again by offering more incentives, most of my electrical items I buy from John Lewis because I feel quite loyal to the brand, they deliver quickly, they have a good selection, they price match and they have a loyalty card, I think it would be very sad if we completely lost the physical shopping experience completely.

Gemini73 wrote:That's half the problem with a lot if these big chains. They thought they were invincible and could just trundle along as normal even though the rise of online shopping saw consumers buying and spending habits changing dramatically.

Footfall in Belfast city centre drops by third after Primark blaze

A total of 14 shops have been shut since the fire as they remain within a safety cordon around the store. But stores just outside the cordon in locations like Castle Street have reported a fall in trade of 90%.

And Springboard's research found that even shopping areas far removed from the cordon were reporting a fall of around 10% or 15%.

The Springboard report said footfall was down 4.6% across Northern Ireland - worse than an average 1.7% decline over the last three months and the 12-month average of 1.9%. Retail park and high street footfall was down 6%, although the drop in shopping centre footfall slowed to 0.2% from 2.4% in August.

Hexx wrote:Good thread! Nice to have an all encompassing Retail thread!

Winckle wrote:I heard on the radio an executive from Debenhams saying "we need to focus more on our online sales". Come on, you've lost that area to Amazon. Everyone has.

Garth wrote:It's been pretty grim for Belfast city centre retailers since the big Primark fire:

Footfall in Belfast city centre drops by third after Primark blaze

NickSCFC wrote:Is anyone seeing growth in this area?

My city centre has seen quite a few British national retailers (Woolworths, BHS, Comet, JJB, Courts, GameStation) disappear over the past decade.

There's been an increasing amount of American fast food places though (McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Coast2Coast, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Papa John's)

It seems that eating out is replacing retail and British companies seem entirely oblivious to this.

Albear wrote:Was sat in Exeter couple months back and said to the GF I reckon Debenhams would be next. Saturday afternoon a d hardly anybody went in.

Moggy wrote:But a lot of the big name stores are going to disappear. Electrical and entertainment shops are utterly doomed, places like HMV, Game and Currys just can’t compete with streaming, downloading and good being delivered.

Winckle wrote:

RichardUK wrote:

Winckle wrote:I heard on the radio an executive from Debenhams saying "we need to focus more on our online sales". Come on, you've lost that area to Amazon. Everyone has.

I think shops like Debenhams can still survive but probably with less stores and improving the remaining stores to give the customer a better experience, I use Amazon mainly for things like games, I don’t and wouldn’t imagine many people buy clothing from Amazon so that’s a large sector they can focus on, also try to get people to be more brand loyal again by offering more incentives, most of my electrical items I buy from John Lewis because I feel quite loyal to the brand, they deliver quickly, they have a good selection, they price match and they have a loyalty card, I think it would be very sad if we completely lost the physical shopping experience completely.

Brand loyalty is dead. People don't have the income to be loyal. Millennial shopping trends seem to show that they shop where is cheapest in terms of supermarket.

Also physical shopping as "an experience" can get strawberry floated. Nothing sad about consumerism dying out.