Map: End of an BHS era as final 22 stores shut
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Sunday marks the end of an era - at least for department store group British Home Stores (BHS), as its last remaining stores are expected to close their doors for good by then. Stores from Swansea to St Albans will shut their shutters for good, bringing an end to the 88 year older retailer, which was once seen as a staple part of any high street.
Administrators Duff & Phelps, which sold BHS’s online and international business to Al Mana Group, previously oversaw the closure of BHS remaining 114 stores over the past weeks, which included the retailers flagship store on Oxford Street in London. Duff & Phelps previously announced the closing dates of the remaining stores in July, but postponed some dates in order to clear remaining stock and inventory. On Friday BHS officially empties 13 former retail locations, including Brighton, Liverpool and Croydon after they stopped trading for good earlier this week.
Remaining BHS stores to close for good this weekend
BHS stores have been announcing the impending closure for the past few weeks and remaining employees have been given notice dates and their redundancy packages. BHS collapse in April affected over 11,000 jobs as well as 22,000 pensions, which led to a parliamentary inquiry into the department stores’ history and previous sale. The inquiry may see its former owners, which include billionaire Sir Philip Green and bankrupted Dominic Chappell, face a criminal investigation as news emerged Sir Green took more than 400 million pounds in dividends from BHS and left it with a 571 million pound pension deficit before selling it for 1 pound to Chappell, who has been declared bankrupted three times.
MPs have criticised Sir Green actions, who is currently said to be in negotiations over BHS’s pensions deficit as it is assessed by the Pension Protection Fund. In wake of BHS store closures, retail analyst Richard Hyman warns that there will be more casualties on the UK high street, as the market is too over crowded and “chasing too few customers.” He said to the Standard: He said: “The coming years will see more casualties and more store closures as the weaker players are gradually forced out of the market.” FashionUnited has compiled a map with the locations of BHS remaining stores in the wake of their closure. See below for more information.
Image credit: By Gibboboy777 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons