The struggling retailer, Debenhams, will be implementing an intense recovery plan, with fifty stores to close, thirty others will be downsized. There will be at least thirty stores that will have to be downsized, as the chariman Terry Duddy points out the ideal size of a department store is around 100,000sq ft – albeit depending on the size of the city. Currently, half of the chain’s stores are more than double that size, though.
The downsizing comes in addition to the unfortunate news that there is already a planned wave of fifty store closins. However Duddy is in talks to find the appropriate space for each location for the 100 remaining outlets.
In most cases, it would appear that the retailer only really needs about three floors of retail space instead of five floors. The excess space could be used for a range of different purporses, with movie theatres being an example.
Debenhams currently has 165 department stores in britian, which employee over 25,000 people. The department store chain has been struggling with the receding turnover figures for over a decade, now. The deby load has mounte up to 1.1 billion pounds. An attempted acquistion that was made by Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley was recently cancelled. Therefore as a result – the company now sits in the hands of the creditors.
