‘Broken' department chain launches 70% off clearance sale on 100s of designer raincoats including Barbour & Ted Baker

Scottish Sun

3 days ago

It comes after the chain has closed dozens of stores in the past three years
SALE AWAY 'Broken' department chain launches 70% off clearance sale on 100s of designer raincoats including Barbour & Ted Baker
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A ONCE thriving department chain has launched a 70% off clearance sale on hundreds of designer raincoats.
House of Fraser is selling Barbour, Ted Baker and Timberland coats - among other brands - at a fraction of their usual prices amid ongoing financial struggles.
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House of Fraser is closing its Worcester branch on Chapel Walk
Credit: PA:Press Association
The popular British chain recently launched a sale offering up to 70% off select brands, as advertised on its website.
Hundreds of items of clothing are still up for grabs at heavily discounted prices since the online sale began.
House of Fraser's financial problems first became public in 2018 when the business entered administration.
The chain was rescued by Sports Direct CEO and billionaire Mike Ashley who bought it for £90 million.
At the time, the deal saved 59 stores and around 17,000 jobs.
However, the group has since shuttered dozens of stores.
Between 2022 and 2025 alone, House of Fraser closed outlets in flagship locations like Oxford Street, along with regional flagships in Cardiff, Cheltenham and Nottingham.
In October 2022, Frasers Group CEO Michael Murray said the chain was on the mend, describing it as a "broken business".
He said: 'House of Fraser was a broken business when we bought it.
"We've completely changed the operating model. It was mostly concession, the stores were way too big, they were under‑invested.
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"Our future vision is that House of Fraser will diminish and Frasers will grow.'
The chain is now clutching onto its 23 remaining locations - two of which, as reported by The Sun, will close in the next few months.
House of Fraser's Worcester store is set to close in September.
Locals were first made aware of its closure after spotting posters advertising a 20 percent off sale in June.
House of Fraser's store in Nottingham's Victoria Centre will follow suit, putting up the shutters in October.
Shoppers of the Nottingham outlet - which has been trading since 1997 - have been treated to a 20 percent off sale inside the store.
Frasers Group is now investing in smaller-format 'Frasers' stores and upmarket lifestyle hubs, with sport and luxury offerings as its focus.
The Sun has approached House of Fraser representatives for comment.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre's decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko to name a few.
What's increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.