Metropol

robschneider wrote:The big problem of course is Arcadia still have several concessions inside BHS sites, so they're going to have to lose a huge amount of staff themselves with nowhere for them to go.

I'm guessing that explains why the BHS in Peterborough's Queensgate until at least a few months ago used to have 'Burtons' on the first floor shop-front signs and 'Dorothy Perkins' on the ground floor signs. Though when I went a few weeks ago those signs had been replaced with new 'BHS' signage for both floors, though both brands could still be found inside.

The modern look of the BHS in Peterborough is/was stark contrast to the one I visited in Stevenage, which had an older logo outside the shop and looked very dated/tired inside. The Stevenage branch was already feeling rather low on stock at the start of May, when I was being 'dragged around' various shops by my girlfriend. I feel the mis-match of logos being used and some stores looking in desperate need of a refresh didn't help attract customers inside. Having read Private Eye's coverage of BHS for the past few months I'm not entirely surprised to see the shop/brand's demise.

I'm pretty sure concessions have their own dedicated staff.

Not from what I've seen in our local stores - much like Debenhams the staff all seem to be employed by BHS and the EPOS system is shared with the rest of the store, but there are sometimes dedicated staff to a particular concession.

When I worked at Debenhams (lol) the Topman staff were paid more, I know that. When the concession closed they all moved into the Topman in the shopping centre.

woah wrote:Not from what I've seen in our local stores - much like Debenhams the staff all seem to be employed by BHS and the EPOS system is shared with the rest of the store, but there are sometimes dedicated staff to a particular concession.

I've seen dedicated staff at some of the concessions in Debenhams but not at BHS - certainly not the one in Meadowhall. To be honest, I wouldn't really call it a 'concession' so much as an area of the shop with branded stock.

I guess there's a subtle difference between *staff assigned to a particular area of a store with particular responsibilities and duties pertaining to the brand/line/section* and *staff EMPLOYED by particular brand/line/section who then work within a particular area of a store.*

Closest thing in my experience is that I was employed on the in-store-bakery in Sainsburys and didn't really work anywhere else except to help out on the odd occasion.

The local Store Twenty One is closing today. Rushed handwritten signs are offering 20% off all stock.

Looks like they're about to go into administration:
http://www.egi.co.uk/news/administratio ... wenty-one/

About as unsurprising as BHS, sadly. I didn't realise they were QS previously - I thought that was something to do with Ethel Austin.

Like BHS, they started selling tat near or on the counter, axed men's clothing in my local now closed store and introduced some home furnishing lines.

In an outcome that will surprise no-one, the buyer of all those Morrisons Local stores appears to be in trouble: My Local collapse set to add to high street woes