High Street chain collapse sweepstake

[JAS84]

House of Fraser's future now thought to rely on a merger with Debenhams, brokered by everyone's favourite tosser Mike Ashley:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45031987

I wonder if the list of store closures would be different if that happens? Hull's would still go because the HOF is close to a Debs, but I am wondering if others on the closure list are in towns without a Debenhams and thus might now be kept, whereas others that were meant to remain open would close if they merge because they won't need two shops in the same town?

[Ant158]

If a Debenhams/HOF deal comes through, wonder what would happen in Manchester. The Kendals store is iconic, but is further away from the retail core than Debenhams.

[WillPS]

Both chains are pretty much doomed. House of Fraser probably has months rather than years now. Debenhams will be down to tens of stores within 5 years, if they haven't completely retreated online.

I'm not sure what merging the chains would achieve personally; other than duplication.

[Charlie Wells]

Both chains are pretty much doomed. House of Fraser probably has months rather than years now. Debenhams will be down to tens of stores within 5 years, if they haven't completely retreated online.

I'm not sure what merging the chains would achieve personally; other than duplication.

Interestingly Debenhams in Cambridge is currently 'undergoing modernisation', with a few parts screened off. Looking through the gaps between the dust sheets I could see they were actually laying new cables in the ground, and not just masking a lack of stock. By contrast I seem to recall their store in Wimbledon looking rather sparse when I visited a month or two ago.

[Andrew]

I’ve always seen Debenhams as the leading mid market department store, with House of Fraser far behind. I imagine Debenhams will continue ok, I mean the middle aged/older person, and notably the middle aged/older man have to shop somewhere. There isn’t a great deal of choice for that demographic in the mid market and present in all the smaller towns and cities up and down the country.

[cwathen]

Poundworld's closure now almost complete (if it isn't already - the date for final closure is 10th August but there seems to be no list of stores still open). Witnessed the usual embarrassing spectacle of the British shopper out to get a final bargain at the Bristol store which closed on Tuesday with a 5 items for £1 sale .

They opened a little late on their final day to quite a queue mainly made up of disgruntled middle aged women moaning about what a disgrace it was they hadn't opened on time as if the staff who were 8 hours away from being unemployed in any way cared. Followed by further moaning that their apparently valuable time had been wasted as there was nothing much left (it was cleared of most stock by the middle of last week, they were only trading from a third of the shop floor by the final day and even that was pretty bare). What did they anticipate on the final day of business after a closing down sale that started over a month ago? A fully stocked store?

[Pete]

I find Debenhams overpriced compared to other shops, it's the WHSmith of departments stores, everything extortionate and available elsewhere for far cheaper.

[sqwidge1978]

So Fraser in Edinburgh is due to close early

House of Fraser is required to exit the store from the 30 September 2018. The last day of trading will be Saturday 15 September. Here is a snippet from the statement.

"Employees of the store and our concession partners have been informed of the earlier than anticipated closure and our priority is to support them through this process.

"We are pleased to confirm that our nearby store Edinburgh Jenners has capacity to take on the number of shop floor colleagues who have so far expressed a desire to transfer at the point the store closes.

How does that work where they are able to offer all staff a job at Jenners, does that mean that Jenners were working understaffed, if not wouldnt employing all Fraser staff in Jenners affect Jenners bottom line profitability.

[all new Phil]

So Fraser in Edinburgh is due to close early

House of Fraser is required to exit the store from the 30 September 2018. The last day of trading will be Saturday 15 September. Here is a snippet from the statement.

"Employees of the store and our concession partners have been informed of the earlier than anticipated closure and our priority is to support them through this process.

"We are pleased to confirm that our nearby store Edinburgh Jenners has capacity to take on the number of shop floor colleagues who have so far expressed a desire to transfer at the point the store closes.

How does that work where they are able to offer all staff a job at Jenners, does that mean that Jenners were working understaffed, if not wouldnt employing all Fraser staff in Jenners affect Jenners bottom line profitability.

Dunno mate

[WillPS]

So Fraser in Edinburgh is due to close early

House of Fraser is required to exit the store from the 30 September 2018. The last day of trading will be Saturday 15 September. Here is a snippet from the statement.

"Employees of the store and our concession partners have been informed of the earlier than anticipated closure and our priority is to support them through this process.

"We are pleased to confirm that our nearby store Edinburgh Jenners has capacity to take on the number of shop floor colleagues who have so far expressed a desire to transfer at the point the store closes.

How does that work where they are able to offer all staff a job at Jenners, does that mean that Jenners were working understaffed, if not wouldnt employing all Fraser staff in Jenners affect Jenners bottom line profitability.

Could it be that they can't afford the redundancy payment bill?

[sqwidge1978]

Poundworld saved