The House of Fraser stores recognized for closure:
Altrincham • Aylesbury • Birkenhead • Birmingham • Bournemouth • Camberley • Cardiff • Carlisle • Chichester • Cirencester • Cwmbran • Darlington • Doncaster • Edinburgh Frasers • Epsom • Grimsby • Prime Wycombe • Hull • Leamington Spa • Lincoln • London Oxford Street • London King William Side Road • Middlesbrough • Milton Keynes • Plymouth • Shrewsbury • Skipton • Swindon • Telford • Wolverhampton • Worcester
‘Existential danger’
Space of Fraser chairman Frank Slevin said the retail industry was once undergoing “fundamental modification”, and the company “urgently must adapt”.
“Our legacy store property has created an unsustainable value base which, with out restructuring, presents an existential danger to the trade.”
Analysis
By Emma Simpson, BBC trade correspondent
Image copyright PA
Space of Fraser has been residing hand to mouth for months. Axing half its stores is a drastic attempt to shop the business from collapse.
This is a sequence that’s had more than its fair share of financial ups and downs over the decades, with a vibrant array of householders. however the chain has gradually misplaced its relevance and suffered from an absence of investment.
It’s been struggling for a protracted time. And in the ultimate 12 months, the more and more tough prerequisites at the Prime Boulevard has exposed its weaknesses, with the end result that its issues have after all come to a head.
Even with those store closures, House of Fraser still need to have the best merchandise and revel in to pull customers into the shops with a purpose to be left.
Shoppers ‘surprised’
A CVA is an insolvency procedure designed to let a firm with debt problems succeed in an settlement with creditors to help pay off phase or all of its money owed and keep away from management or liquidation.
Richard Lim, leader executive of analyst company Retail Economics, mentioned the plan to shut Area of Fraser’s Oxford Boulevard retailer and 30 others was once “a huge statement of reason”.
“The closure of such an iconic flagship retailer signals the large restructuring activity handy,” he said.
“department shops are extremely dear to operate and the previous few years have seen prices spiralling upwards from business rates, rents and National Living Wage.”
Customers outdoor the Oxford Side Road retailer in London expressed wonder at the information of the closure plans.
“I’m stunned,” said one. “i’ve been a purchaser here for 21 years. i assumed, maybe, as a result of it is Oxford Side Road, they are going to no longer close this one. Other People come to Oxford Boulevard – despite the fact that it is just for a glance round.”
A 2nd client said: “Very, very shocked. I do keep here and it’s got all of the issues i would like, make-up, garments – it’s an exquisite store.”
House of Fraser began with a shop in the centre of Glasgow virtually 170 years ago.
It turned into a retail empire with more than 100 department stores, together with iconic luxury store Harrods in 1959.
Owner Hugh Fraser additionally got Kendals in Manchester and Rackhams in Birmingham.
Hugh’s son, also referred to as Hugh, multiplied the portfolio with an extra 50 shops. The Fraser dynasty got here to an end in 1985, whilst Mohamed al-Fayed took it over.
The House of Fraser Workforce has annual sales of £1.2bn. It employs approximately FIVE,000 other people right away and also has 12,500 concession team of workers.
