Debenhams have confirmed 19 of their stores will close their doors this month, after the company entered administration last year.
Six stores have already shut this month, while another 13 will close over the following fortnight.
Last year, the retailer named 22 of the 50 ‘worst-performing’ stores that it planned to close down, as part of the company’s new ownership.
What stores will close this month, and what is the reason behind the closures?
Which Debenhams stores are closing?
The stores shutting their doors in January are as follows:
Closing on 15 January:
Chatham, Kent
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Slough, Berkshire
Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham
Welwyn, Herfordshire
Witney, Oxfordshire
Closing on 19 January:
Ashford, Kent
Canterbury, Kent
Eastbourne, East Sussex
Folkestone, Kent
Southport, Merseyside
Southsea, Portsmouth
Wimbledon, London
In addition to this, stores in Altrincham, Birmingham, Kirkcaldy, Walton-on-Thames, Wandsworth and Wolverhampton closed earlier this week, on January 11.
The York, Haverfordwest and Orpington brought down their shutters in December.
There are more closures on the horizon for the high street mainstay, as their rescue plan will see around 50 shops shut across three years.
It has not yet been confirmed what other stores may close.
Why are Debenhams closing their stores?
When the retail chain went into administration last year, its ownership fell into the hands of lenders including US investment firms, the Bank of England, and Barclays.
The store closures are a result of lender’s plans to put the chain on ‘a stable financial footing’ aimed to ‘ensure the future of the company.’
Debenhams executive chairman Terry Duddy said the chain has a ‘bright future’ but it has to restructure the business in order to ‘save as many stores and jobs as we can.’
The exact number of jobs at risk is unclear although the January spate of closures will impact 660 jobs.
It’s been a rocky start to the year for the British high street following the closure of Mothercare’s final stores yesterday.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/13/debenhams-stores-closing-12049011/
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