Latest news with #HouseOfFraser
The Sun
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Major department store with 26 shops UK-wide shuts TODAY after closing down sale
AN iconic department store has closed its doors for good today. The legendary retail giant has pulled the shutters down on the once-beloved high street staple. 2 The recent closing down sale has marked the end of the city's historic House of Fraser. The Lincoln High Street site has housed the department store for more than 100 years, while it was previously called Mawer and Collingham. In 1980, the company was bought by House of Fraser. Its closure highlights a "real problem" for the city centre losing a big "anchor tenant". The old building in the city centre is said to be 'difficult to redevelop' with it being right beside a road. The luxury Radisson Hotel chain had won planning permission in 2020 to demolish the building and replace it with a 150-bed 'lifestyle' hotel featuring shops, a restaurant, a gym, a bar, and a courtyard garden. The proposal was expected to create 190 jobs and boost Lincoln's economy. However, these plans never materialised, and the permission expired in May 2023. House of Fraser was saved from collapse by billionaire businessman Mike Ashley back in 2018. But while the deal saved the chain's 59 stores and 17,000 workers who were facing the axe many more stores have closed in recent years. Topshop teases high street return Other stores affected include Bristol, Bluewater, Birmingham, Cardiff and Guildford. Inflation and the cost-of-living crisis have made large-scale projects increasingly difficult to come to fruition. Decreasing store sales and rising staff costs have made it impossible for shops to stay open. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. 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. 2
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
'Problem' for Lincoln city centre as House of Fraser closes
Commercial property experts told the BBC they believed it would be difficult to find a new tenant for the House of Fraser store on Lincoln's High Street, when it closes this has been a department store on the site, which commands a prominent position in the city centre, since the early 20th 2019, planning permission was granted to demolish the building and replace it with a 150-bed hotel, but no work was carried out and its future is now say the shop is due to close on 23 May. Fraser Group has been approached for comment but has yet to reply. Chartered surveyor Steven Spivey has worked in Lincoln for more than 20 years and said it was a "real problem" for the city centre to lose a big "anchor tenant" like House of Fraser."It leaves a big void. It's such a big building that needs to be occupied. It can't sit there doing nothing. It's too prominent for that."However, Mr Spivey said finding a new tenant would be a "challenge"."Retailers don't want such large buildings any more and other users want purpose-built open plan space," he said. "This is an older building in the city centre and it's difficult to redevelop, being right beside a road." For more than 100 years, the site on Lincoln High Street has been home to a thriving department store, initially called Mawer and University of Glasgow holds a collection of documents detailing its history as part of its House of Fraser and Collingham was incorporated as a limited company in 1900. It expanded, acquiring neighbouring properties and, by 1930, it owned the whole of the current shop gained a modern, box-like facade when it was refurbished in the 1980, the company was bought by House of Fraser, trading first as Binns before adopting its current name. The 2019 plans by the owners of the building, Halifax Pension Nominees Limited, included a four-star hotel with restaurant, bar and leisure facilities. Kieron Manning, assistant director of planning at City of Lincoln Council, said planning permission had since lapsed. "At this point in time, the city council has not received any new applications for the site," he said. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
