House of Fraser

[Doon frae Troon]

House of Fraser has been taken over by Mike Ashley.
He says he wants to turn it into a 'Harrods of the High Street'.

I would imagine there will be a bit of a culture shock coming for it's staff.
Fair play to him in taking it on and keeping the jobs.

I would imagine HoF property portfolio is pretty impressive.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

House of Fraser has been taken over by Mike Ashley.
He says he wants to turn it into a 'Harrods of the High Street'.

I would imagine there will be a bit of a culture shock coming for it's staff.
Fair play to him in taking it on and keeping the jobs.

I would imagine HoF property portfolio is pretty impressive.

Most retailers rent rather than own the majority of their sites so their "property portfolio" will consist largely of unexpired leases.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

He may want the locations more than the brand. I went into The Newcastle one recently, Metrocentre to be pedantic, and I'm not sure it has a clear vision. He may put some Sports Direct shops into their locations.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I fear for Frasers on Buchanan Street - we buy stuff from it almost every time we are in Glasgow - a lovely store - a Glasgow shopping icon - especially at Christmas.

 

[patricks148]

Most retailers rent rather than own the majority of their sites so their "property portfolio" will consist largely of unexpired leases.

I don't know but were not most of these sites family owned department stores at one time so may be a few are owned ??

 

[MegaSteve]

Use it or lose it comes to mind...
Amazing how many will moan about the demise but probably never made an attempt to cross its threshold...

We have a small independent department store in our High Street which we use when possible...
It's loss would impact on an already diminished shopping area...

Same for the small parade of shops nearby to where we live...
Even if it's just a couple of pints a milk a week and some bread it helps with keeping the grocers ticking over...
Use the chemists for our prescriptions as its home to the post office also whose loss would be a real pain...

 

[arnieboy]

Having worked for House of Fraser for seventeen years when department stores were in their heyday I find this news quite sad. Does anyone remember when they bought the world famous Lillywhites sports store in London and turned it into a jumble sale?

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Sports Direct at Loch Lomond does not have much of a ring to it.

£90m seems very cheap, 16,000 staff. I wonder how safe the pensions fund is.

 

[Fish]

Most of these traditional department stores have lived on their past for far too long without investment and not keeping up with current and changing trends. As their ageing loyal shoppers decline in numbers, the footfall drops massively, they are a dinosaur of the retail sector, soon to become extinct!

 

[SocketRocket]

There is a fair sized HOF near us in Worcester and a large store in Cheltenham. It appears as if most of the floor space is taken up by concessions and a fairly small own brand section. I assume it would be fairly straight forward to remove a number of concessions and replace them with Sports Direct brands.

 

[MegaSteve]

Having worked for House of Fraser for seventeen years when department stores were in their heyday I find this news quite sad. Does anyone remember when they bought the world famous Lillywhites sports store in London and turned it into a jumble sale?

I can remember [as a kid] jumping on the tube, to go up town, just for a stroll around Lillywhites…
Fantastic store packed full of wonderment..

 

[Jensen]

Fantastic I can now buy Dunlop and Slazenger t-shirts, but now pose with a House of Fraser bag 😄

 

[Deleted member 18588]

I don't know but were not most of these sites family owned department stores at one time so may be a few are owned ??

In June they proposed closing 31 of 59 stores and I understand that those were all rented premises.

They quite probably own some of their stores but those are likely to be a minority.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Sports Direct at Loch Lomond does not have much of a ring to it.

£90m seems very cheap, 16,000 staff. I wonder how safe the pensions fund is.

Maybe not cheap if still losing money. It could have been £1. Ashley has only paid that because he sees something but I suspect more about the sites than HoF the brand. As someone has previously said, most of what is in there is concession so I'm not sure how that creates loyalty. Maybe different at other stores but that is how the Metro centre site is.

 

[Tashyboy]

Sports Direct at Loch Lomond does not have much of a ring to it.

£90m seems very cheap, 16,000 staff. I wonder how safe the pensions fund is.

Re the pension DFT, this was my first thought. Quite a few ifs and buts I think. If HOF went into administration before Ashley bought them, I don't think Ashley will be held accountable for any pension deficits should there be any. If that is the case, there pension will end up in the PPF or pension protection fund. If it does, Anyone waiting to claim there pensions will lose 10%. Anyone already claiming it will lose 10%. Again if all them ifs are correct. Ashley would be wise to set his new employees up in private pensions.

 

[Beezerk]

He may want the locations more than the brand. I went into The Newcastle one recently, Metrocentre to be pedantic, and I'm not sure it has a clear vision. He may put some Sports Direct shops into their locations.

Metro centre in Gateshead to be double pedantic 😄

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Metro centre in Gateshead to be double pedantic 

Correct but most people outside the area know Newcastle but not Gateshead so I went for that one. Fine pedantry though 😁