[Brighton] RIP Debenhams

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55142724

Bad news for the town, and for the viability of Churchill Square whose flagship store just sunk.

Above all, very sad news for the local folks that work there. Nightmare before xmas. Wishing them all good things for a brighter new year

 

[BBassic]

Feels a bit like when Woolworths went. Debenhams has always been on the high street.

Horrible news for the staff losing their jobs at this time of year.

2020 should just give it a rest already.

 

[Chicken Run]

Feels a bit like when Woolworths went. Debenhams has always been on the high street.

Horrible news for the staff losing their jobs at this time of year.

2020 should just give it a rest already.

Regretfully, whilst I’m certain the staff will need the money they won’t shut till January, a very tough few weeks for the staff anyway at this time of year with the added agony that you’ll be out of a job in the new year, good luck to the staff.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

It continues to be a concern that the demise of the high street will bring down property prices and devastate pension funds. If the funds can’t afford to pay pensions out then it will be serious stuff.
The number of big stores that have been there all my life and have now gone to the wall is unbelievable. Kids today won’t have a high street. At best it will be a trip to places like Bluewater (if that can succeed) in order to see and feel what they are buying.
Internet purchasing has already led to lower wages, as if shop workers aren’t on low enough already.
A bit of a bleak outlook really.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Churchill square will be like another ghost town...Debenhams gone at the back and top shop and the Arcadia shops at the front.


I see the Jaguar garage on the OSR has been demolished and the Solutions INC place gone down there too.

 

[Chicken Run]

Churchill square will be like another ghost town...Debenhams gone at the back and top shop and the Arcadia shops at the front.


I see the Jaguar garage on the OSR has been demolished and the Solutions INC place gone down there too.

Jaguar opening at Hollingbury and big box going onto the site on OSR some comfort

 

[Chicken Run]

It continues to be a concern that the demise of the high street will bring down property prices and devastate pension funds. If the funds can’t afford to pay pensions out then it will be serious stuff.
The number of big stores that have been there all my life and have now gone to the wall is unbelievable. Kids today won’t have a high street. At best it will be a trip to places like Bluewater (if that can succeed) in order to see and feel what they are buying.
Internet purchasing has already led to lower wages, as if shop workers aren’t on low enough already.
A bit of a bleak outlook really.

Low wages and badly driven/parked vans everywhere, however if people felt that strongly about the High Street they’d boycott online shopping next year, it’s like people moaning when the local pub is closing and only going their 10 times a year[emoji29]

 

[Brian Parsons]

The Debenhams in the Metro centre at Gateshead closed a long time ago and that was a big one in a premier INTU run shopping arcade.
Sadly a demise that has been years in the making and the surge in online shopping. As has been mentioned in other posts there won't be a High Street anymore it'll be hairdressers and charity shops. Very sad times.

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

 

[Giraffe]

Really sad for all the staff.

But Debenhams v Next is a great case study. One sat doing very little in expensive old fashioned high street locations. The other modernised, moved to brand new out of town retail sites, set up NEXT day delivery or collection. Added in more of a lifestyle feel about the business. Next may still face challenges but at least their management has done everything they can whilst the Debenhams guys have sat on their hands.

 

[Chicken Run]

Really sad for all the staff.

But Debenhams v Next is a great case study. One sat doing very little in expensive old fashioned high street locations. The other modernised, moved to brand new out of town retail sites, set up NEXT day delivery or collection. Added in more of a lifestyle feel about the business. Next may still face challenges but at least their management has done everything they can whilst the Debenhams guys have sat on their hands.

Is Next still open at Hollinbury ?

 

[studio150]

Really sad for all the staff.

But Debenhams v Next is a great case study. One sat doing very little in expensive old fashioned high street locations. The other modernised, moved to brand new out of town retail sites, set up NEXT day delivery or collection. Added in more of a lifestyle feel about the business. Next may still face challenges but at least their management has done everything they can whilst the Debenhams guys have sat on their hands.

Debenhams were probably tied into longer leases than Next, which makes it difficult to change locations quickly. Also Debenhams had Mike Ashley taking 30% but effectively wanting a greater say in the running of Debenhams without actually financing a full take over.

 

[Cian]

Big-ish shopping centre near work has a hulking former Debenhams unit they never managed to get a proper tenant for - Forever21 for a while before they pulled out and then New Look who haven't reopened since March; *and* has a humongous Topshop/Topman as its other anchor. Debenhams themselves moved across the road to a unit they bought out the previous retailer in so that's gone too.

That centre managed to get the standlone M&S next door (allegedly the most profitable M&S in the entire group) to open a door in to it; without which I'd say they may as well pull the shutters down already.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Really sad for all the staff.

But Debenhams v Next is a great case study. One sat doing very little in expensive old fashioned high street locations. The other modernised, moved to brand new out of town retail sites, set up NEXT day delivery or collection. Added in more of a lifestyle feel about the business. Next may still face challenges but at least their management has done everything they can whilst the Debenhams guys have sat on their hands.

This. Debenham's flagship menswear designers for about the past twenty years have been Jasper Conran and John Rocha, with maybe a desultory bit of Ben Sherman thrown in. Pretty hopeless really

 

[Dave the OAP]

Jaguar opening at Hollingbury and big box going onto the site on OSR some comfort

It’s going to be a McLaren garage isn’t it? Not necessarily something that many of us can afford or even attain to afford.

Big box? Is that in the solutions inc site?

 

[blue-shifted]

High street shopping is going to look grim for a while

However. In the medium term, we may see lower commercial rents and smaller independent stores.

Despite the growth the internet shopping especially during the pandemic, the fundamentals are still there. People want to go shopping. It's a social experience for many. Churchill Square needs to adapt to a new reality. Department stores are dead, but there is a virtual reality space in there, you can then go and play a bit of lego in the lego shop. A meeting space for shared experiences is what shopping centres will become. The dinosaur golf place on the Marina is a great example.

A diversity of little imaginative uses of these retail units is what's needed rather than hulking great big stores

 

[Chicken Run]

It’s going to be a McLaren garage isn’t it? Not necessarily something that many of us can afford or even attain to afford.

Big box? Is that in the solutions inc site?

Are you whooshing me PO?? [emoji23]

mcLaren is the name of the site developer, And it’s a storage unit facility going on there [emoji106]

 

[bluenitsuj]

Low wages and badly driven/parked vans everywhere, however if people felt that strongly about the High Street they’d boycott online shopping next year, it’s like people moaning when the local pub is closing and only going their 10 times a year[emoji29]

100% this. Most people shop with Amazon and other online retailers and then act upset and shocked when most of the highstreet disappears.

Our household refuse to shop with Amazon and prefer to shop local, especially with independent traders.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Really sad for all the staff.

But Debenhams v Next is a great case study. One sat doing very little in expensive old fashioned high street locations. The other modernised, moved to brand new out of town retail sites, set up NEXT day delivery or collection. Added in more of a lifestyle feel about the business. Next may still face challenges but at least their management has done everything they can whilst the Debenhams guys have sat on their hands.

All the Arcadia stuff was the same in that they made precious little effort to adapt to modern shopping..... and lots of the Arcadia names were shops within shops in Debenhams

 

[Greg Bobkin]

It's extrememly sad for the staff who work there and I hope they are well looked after –*especially given the year that they've had. But the whole 'High Street' or 'Shopping Centre' models are a busted flush. Online has taken over well and truly and it's not likely to go back the other way anytime soon. You can't blame covid for it either – all the pandemic has done is accelerate the changes that were set to come months and years down the line. But in the same way that sectors and companies go, new ones will emerge. Look at the delivery networks – food, goods, whatever – not to mention coffee shops. I'm not saying everyone who loses their job will pick up another one just like that, but industry evolves, so there are jobs that many of the younger generation will end up doing that haven't even been thought of yet.

 

[GT49er]

I'm amazed our local Debenhams has lasted this long. It used to be busy - positively crowded at Christmas time, Father Christmas, the lot. Gradually it got emptier, floors getting emptier as sections disappeared or were reduced (toys went from half a floor to a couple of small stands, for example) and it was a close call whether there were more customers than staff - and precious few of either.
I'm sure the main footfall was for the toilets after all the public loos were closed and demolished!