Is it just the management of Debenhams that's at fault?
Mike Ashley was keen to buy them and he's also got House of Fraser so he must think there's a future for the High Street.
How are Primark doing? They don't have online shopping and relying footfall. Is their business plan better?
From an independent analyst:
What Primark is doing so well is that they know their DNA and stick to it in everything they do. This makes that the company is very well aligned internally and externally around the way they create value for their customers. Primark offers low prices. So they clearly compete on price. But it is not just price. It is price combined with an overwhelming large number of fashion items to choose from in their stores. At the bottomline, they sell the kid-in-the-candy-store feeling, the Oh-My-God-I-can-buy-all-of-this-and-still-have-money-left experience. That is their value proposition and that is why they are successful.
Is it just the management of Debenhams that's at fault?
Mike Ashley was keen to buy them and he's also got House of Fraser so he must think there's a future for the High Street.
How are Primark doing? They don't have online shopping and relying footfall. Is their business plan better?
From an independent analyst:
What Primark is doing so well is that they know their DNA and stick to it in everything they do. This makes that the company is very well aligned internally and externally around the way they create value for their customers. Primark offers low prices. So they clearly compete on price. But it is not just price. It is price combined with an overwhelming large number of fashion items to choose from in their stores. At the bottomline, they sell the kid-in-the-candy-store feeling, the Oh-My-God-I-can-buy-all-of-this-and-still-have-money-left experience. That is their value proposition and that is why they are successful.
The downside is the Primark effect on landfill. All those cheaply bought garments are just thrown away after a couple of wears and replaced with the latest fashion.
I know COVID has delivered a critical blow to the already beleaguered high street retail business but for the odious scum parasite Philip Green and his Mrs to walk away from Arcadia scot free is abominable. The plight of their chains of retailers is in no small part down to the £1.2billion dividend taken (in Mrs G's name) a few years back. They had to pony up a token sum for their culpability in the BHS staff pension shortfall. They're gonna need to pony up a much more significant sum this time around. The loss of most of those jobs is on their hands. My sympathies to any and all affected by their wanton complacent greed.
Shoppers at Topshop and other Arcadia brands will only be able to use gift cards for half of their order, the embattled company has said.
Arcadia collapsed into administration on Monday and shoppers have been unable to use gift cards online since.
The company said the card shutdown was a temporary technical issue to be resolved within days.
But it said that, once resolved, the cards would only be valid for 50% of a purchase.
That means, for example, only £25 in card value could be redeemed on a £50 order, or someone wanting to use the whole of their £10 gift card would need to spend £20 in total.
Shoppers at Topshop and other Arcadia brands will only be able to use gift cards for half of their order, the embattled company has said.
Arcadia collapsed into administration on Monday and shoppers have been unable to use gift cards online since.
The company said the card shutdown was a temporary technical issue to be resolved within days.
But it said that, once resolved, the cards would only be valid for 50% of a purchase.
That means, for example, only £25 in card value could be redeemed on a £50 order, or someone wanting to use the whole of their £10 gift card would need to spend £20 in total.
It's legal alright. No retailer is obliged to sell you anything ever. They can't decline legitimate coin of the realm but they can decline any and all other forms of payment on a whim. Even the price tag has no firm footing legally for the customer - the price tag is an invitation to would be customers to offer a sum to purchase the item - the retailer is under no obligation to accept it. Hard to understand why they wouldn't but nothing we consumers can do about it. The liquidator/receiver is legally obliged to generate as much liquid cash value for the creditors as possible. The money for gift cards has already been received (and spent by Arcadia obviously). The liquidator has to shift as much of the existing stock as quickly as possible for as much cash as possible. Accepting gift cards as full and final settlement for items, amounts to giving the stock away for nothing. The liquidator's obligation is solely to the creditors and imposed by law. The liquidator has no obligation to consumers beyond sales of goods acts.
Topshop's store in Oxford Street faces closing its doors after 27 years. The sale of 214 Oxford Street, managed by agents Savills and Eastdil, follows the failure of Sir Philip Green's retail empire to secure funding to pay its debts after sales slumped during the pandemic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55551743
Topshop's store in Oxford Street faces closing its doors after 27 years. The sale of 214 Oxford Street, managed by agents Savills and Eastdil, follows the failure of Sir Philip Green's retail empire to secure funding to pay its debts after sales slumped during the pandemic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55551743
That's a big shop to fill, wouldn't be surprised if nothing takes it on for a while
Debenhams will not re-open its flagship London Oxford Street store and five others after lockdown.
A total of 320 staff will be affected by the closures of the branches in Portsmouth, Staines, Harrogate, Weymouth and Worcester along with Oxford Street.
So Mike Ashley offered £125m for Debenhams last April presumably with the shops continuing as an ongoing concern, That's turned down as too low and it's now sold for £55m with all the shops to close and the workers end up losing their jobs. Something really just doesn't seem right there.
It's a shame that the shops are closing and therefore staff are losing their jobs, looks like the same is about to happen for Topshop and Miss Selfridge
It's a shame that the shops are closing and therefore staff are losing their jobs, looks like the same is about to happen for Topshop and Miss Selfridge
The retail sector has been decimated and covid has hastened it's demise. Online retailers will swallow up the business but jobs will become scarce - great for the business owners but poor for the employees.
The high street is changing and needs to move with the times. Sadly for the most part having a high street with 3/4 department stores just isn't needed.
I haven't been to a high street shopping for probably two years and haven't missed the experience one bit!
BooHoo can afford it as they have a record of paying well below legal minimum wages to their Leicester seamstresses .. before any deals they should pay up as well as paying a huge fine .. this will be another online outlet for their cheap and shoddy 'fashion' gear. Ashley can presumably still get hold of Debenhams' empty stores and use the 'Fraser' brand name if that is viable
The high street is changing and needs to move with the times. Sadly for the most part having a high street with 3/4 department stores just isn't needed.
I haven't been to a high street shopping for probably two years and haven't missed the experience one bit!
We are going to be lucky if we have one department store let alone three or four, Rob.
The high street is changing and needs to move with the times. Sadly for the most part having a high street with 3/4 department stores just isn't needed.
I haven't been to a high street shopping for probably two years and haven't missed the experience one bit!
We are going to be lucky if we have one department store let alone three or four, Rob.
Very true! I think they’ve seen their day TBH, your M&S will just about survive (I know not a department store) and John Lewis but that’ll be about it.
high streets will evolve, probably more residential and smaller retail but some are going to be very empty for a long while.
maybe we’ll see a new type of department store where small retailers will take a section.
The high street is changing and needs to move with the times. Sadly for the most part having a high street with 3/4 department stores just isn't needed.
I haven't been to a high street shopping for probably two years and haven't missed the experience one bit!
We are going to be lucky if we have one department store let alone three or four, Rob.
Very true! I think they’ve seen their day TBH, your M&S will just about survive (I know not a department store) and John Lewis but that’ll be about it.
high streets will evolve, probably more residential and smaller retail but some are going to be very empty for a long while.
maybe we’ll see a new type of department store where small retailers will take a section.
Debenhams was kind of like that though, as was Allders. I guess what you have in mind is something like Kensington Market used to be, which would be great.
Oxford Street is going to be really weird without Debenhams and Top Shop
I can remember the likes of HMV, Virgin, C&A and BHS who are no longer there, but this is very different as there are no obvious takers for the large sites.
Oxford Street is going to be really weird without Debenhams and Top Shop
I can remember the likes of HMV, Virgin, C&A and BHS who are no longer there, but this is very different as there are no obvious takers for the large sites.
Do locals still go shopping up Oxford Street? I thought it was just a tourist hotspot.
Technology and social changes are surely more important. If more and more people (especially younger people who tend to buy more clothes) choose to buy online, more and more shops will shut down.
I'm reading a history of Chelmsford in Tudor and medieval times. Seems the whole high street is pubs with a weekly market and an open sewer in the middle. Sounds remarkably like Swansea.
Technology and social changes are surely more important. If more and more people (especially younger people who tend to buy more clothes) choose to buy online, more and more shops will shut down.
Many online retailers are poor employers and have complicated tax arrangements - this will have considerable implications. The power of a company such as Amazon will potentially give it far too much influence.
The world will increasingly be run by huge companies.
Comments
What Primark is doing so well is that they know their DNA and stick to it in everything they do. This makes that the company is very well aligned internally and externally around the way they create value for their customers. Primark offers low prices. So they clearly compete on price. But it is not just price. It is price combined with an overwhelming large number of fashion items to choose from in their stores. At the bottomline, they sell the kid-in-the-candy-store feeling, the Oh-My-God-I-can-buy-all-of-this-and-still-have-money-left experience. That is their value proposition and that is why they are successful.
Primark relies on volume and very cheap prices - it couldn't support an online model at these prices.
The plight of their chains of retailers is in no small part down to the £1.2billion dividend taken (in Mrs G's name) a few years back. They had to pony up a token sum for their culpability in the BHS staff pension shortfall. They're gonna need to pony up a much more significant sum this time around. The loss of most of those jobs is on their hands.
My sympathies to any and all affected by their wanton complacent greed.
Shoppers at Topshop and other Arcadia brands will only be able to use gift cards for half of their order, the embattled company has said.
Arcadia collapsed into administration on Monday and shoppers have been unable to use gift cards online since.
The company said the card shutdown was a temporary technical issue to be resolved within days.
But it said that, once resolved, the cards would only be valid for 50% of a purchase.
That means, for example, only £25 in card value could be redeemed on a £50 order, or someone wanting to use the whole of their £10 gift card would need to spend £20 in total.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55171163
The liquidator/receiver is legally obliged to generate as much liquid cash value for the creditors as possible.
The money for gift cards has already been received (and spent by Arcadia obviously).
The liquidator has to shift as much of the existing stock as quickly as possible for as much cash as possible.
Accepting gift cards as full and final settlement for items, amounts to giving the stock away for nothing.
The liquidator's obligation is solely to the creditors and imposed by law. The liquidator has no obligation to consumers beyond sales of goods acts.
The sale of 214 Oxford Street, managed by agents Savills and Eastdil, follows the failure of Sir Philip Green's retail empire to secure funding to pay its debts after sales slumped during the pandemic.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55551743
Debenhams will not re-open its flagship London Oxford Street store and five others after lockdown.
A total of 320 staff will be affected by the closures of the branches in Portsmouth, Staines, Harrogate, Weymouth and Worcester along with Oxford Street.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55643842
Fashion retailer Boohoo has bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m.
However, it will not take on any of the firm's remaining 118 High Street stores or its workforce.
Boohoo said it was a "transformational deal" and a "huge step". But the deal means that up to 12,000 jobs at the department store chain are set to go.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55793411
Asos frontrunner to buy Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge brands - BBC News
I haven't been to a high street shopping for probably two years and haven't missed the experience one bit!
high streets will evolve, probably more residential and smaller retail but some are going to be very empty for a long while.
maybe we’ll see a new type of department store where small retailers will take a section.
I can remember the likes of HMV, Virgin, C&A and BHS who are no longer there, but this is very different as there are no obvious takers for the large sites.
The world will increasingly be run by huge companies.