Debenhams R.I.P.

A mournful end to a long and distinguished
commercial career.

More than a pang this week to hear that dear old Debenhams is to close. It appears that Covid has finished off the last uncertain year of trading for this familiar and much-loved store, on the ubiquitous high street for all of my long life. It traces its history back to 1778 when William Clark established a drapery store at 44 Wigmore Street, even then a prestigious address. He sold expensive fabrics, bonnets, gloves and parasols which makes me almost certain that Jane Austen will have shopped there during her frequent stays with her brother, Henry, a banker, and his wife, Eliza, They lived over the bank in which he was a partner, at 10, Henrietta Street, and later in Chelsea at 23, Hans Place.

William Debenham in 1813

In 1813 William Debenham invested in the firm which then became Clark & Debenham and went from strength to strength. The first store outside London was opened in Cheltenham [a fashionable town] in 1818, an exact replica of the Wigmore Street store. In the ensuing years the firm prospered and became an important centre for the lucrative Victorian fashion of family mourning by which widows and other female relatives adhered to a strict code of clothing, usually new, and etiquette.

In 1851 Clement Freebody became a major investor in the firm which was re-named Debenhams & Freebody and business expanded into wholesale, selling cloth and other items to dressmakers and large retailers. The firm grew, acquiring retail, wholesale and manufacturing businesses during the remainder of the 19^th century when offices also opened in South Africa, Australia, Canada and China.

Debenham & Freebody, London, 1905.

Acquisitions continued into the 20^th century and the store became Debenhams Ltd in 1905. In 1919 it merged with the famously fashionable Marshall & Snelgrove and in 1920 it purchased Harvey Nichols, a gloriously resonant trading name. An astonishingly sustained period of growth and financial success followed. The involvement of the Debenham family finally ended in 1927 and the business became a public company in 1928. By 1950 Debenhams was the largest department store group in the U.K. owning 84 companies and 110 stores, the lynchpin of the British retail landscape. It continued to grow with central buying finally introduced in 1966. 1976 saw the acquisition of Browns of Chester, the so-called Harrods of the North, and the following year all the stores were re-branded as Debenhams with the sole exception of the prestigious Browns which retains its own name to this day. Browns was both a high-status store and also one set in a jewel of a building.

Part of the gorgeous interior of
Browns of Chester.

From 1985 to 1998, Debenhams became part of the Burton Group which saw the repositioning of the business with the introduction of exclusive merchandise, most notably, Designers at Debenhams, launched in 1993. This period also witnessed a significant increase in the number of stores and in 1997 came the first international franchise store opened in Bahrain. Following the de-merger from the Burton Group, Debenhams was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 2003 when it was acquired by Baroness Retail Ltd, returning to the London Stock Exchange in 2006. In September 2007 the Company acquired nine stores from Roches in the Republic of Ireland followed, in November 2009, by the acquisition of Magasin du Nord, the leading Danish department store.

In February 2019 Debenhams announced a strategic sourcing partnership with global supply chain solutions provider, Li & Fung. In April 2019 Debenhams plc entered administration and delisted. The operating businesses under Debenhams Group Holdings Ltd were acquired by a consortium of lenders, Celine UK NewCo 1 Ltd at this time, and the business gained access to £200 million of new funding and embarked on a restructuring plan.

Debenhams advertising postcard,
1906.

And now the bombshell that Debenhams has ceased trading and is holding fire sales this first week in December. J.D. Sports had been negotiating a buy-out but after Philip Green’s Arcadia also collapsed this week, JD Sports terminated the negotiations with Debenhams. Given the vast property portfolio, 124 stores, and the huge number of jobs, 12,000, which will be lost, the collapse of Debenhams will have a huge impact on Britain’s ailing High Streets. The consensus of opinion at this monumental failure is that Debenhams lost out to more nimble competitors as it failed to embrace change, particularly online, I certainly mourn the ignominious end of 242 years of incredible continuity and exemplary commercial success. For me, there is nostalgia of course, for one of the background staples of my childhood and growing up, but there is also a considerable sadness at this ignominious final act.

Customers rush into the first day of sale,
1977.

Illustration of Clark & Debenhams 
before 1851.