High Street chain collapse sweepstake

[JAS84]

It's basically a new business. They closed down today.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45135268

[Pete]

I wonder if Jenners is on a lease or whether they own the building outright.

[thegeek]

I wonder if Jenners is on a lease or whether they own the building outright.

It's owned by "a mystery investor".

[Charlie Wells]

Well this came slightly sooner than expected, though perhaps no surprise after the Chinese investors pulled out...
House of Fraser calls in administrators
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45140874

[g67bbx]

Well this came slightly sooner than expected, though perhaps no surprise after the Chinese investors pulled out...
House of Fraser calls in administrators
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45140874

I also was expecting this, albeit in a couple of weeks. Not now.

[g67bbx]

I came across this forum by chance, thought I would add my own views on the subject.

Ones to watch in 2018:

Toys R Us - To be honest, it cant keep going for much longer. It will either fold completely or wind down to a few select sites.
Debenhams - Poor results over Christmas. I feel it will review its estate and cut out the deadwood shops, and put money into refurbishing the good ones.
House of Fraser - Seeking rent reductions. Unfortunately, I think it will end up going down the BHS route.
M&S - Store closures.
(Looks like the department stores are going to struggle this year)
Poundland (and Pep&Co) - Will be sold to new owner.
WHSmith - Just one to keep on the radar. Possible management/HO structure changes and closing of least profitable stores as leases end. Travel doing well.
TESCO - Possible Management changes and store redundancies.

That's it for now, but could be some changes as the retailers release their Christmas results. Next and ALDI have done very well over Christmas.

I was right about TESCO, 1700 store management jobs to go
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42779698

8 Months Later

Toys R Us - Gone
Debenhams - Closing stores
House of Fraser - Probably gone
M&S - Closing even more stores
Poundland - Closing some stores, mainly duplicates. Pep&Co being removed from some stores.
WHSmith - Management restructured and regions restructured TWICE this year! Loss making shops closing.
TESCO - Job losses and employment down.

A very bad year for retail!

[WillPS]

It's out of administration already: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... r-business

More: https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... talks-fail

I wonder if this means the Debenhams takeover plan is dead?

[cwathen]

It's out of administration already: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... r-business

More: https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... talks-fail

I wonder if this means the Debenhams takeover plan is dead?

Notably, they've bought all of it, including the 31 stores earmarked for closure. So presumably this is now off and all HOF stores will carry on - for now at least anyway.

[JAS84]

BBC suggests he could rebrand some as Sports Direct. Which might not be a bad idea if there isn't one already in a location and that HOF isn't doing well. I suppose he could hybridise some too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45140874

[WillPS]

BBC suggests he could rebrand some as Sports Direct. Which might not be a bad idea if there isn't one already in a location and that HOF isn't doing well. I suppose he could hybridise some too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45140874

They'd be bloody massive Sports Directs, even the smaller sites.

[JAS84]

See this TJ Hughes photo from Street View 10 years ago (not sure why there's no more recent shot of that building on there)? That's a former C&A, later became Poundland, which only used the ground floor, and is now a Sports Direct. It's actually right next to our similarly sized House of Fraser (just rotate it to the right). So yeah, they do go for large stores nowadays!
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Fer ... -0.3447004