Debenhams is a British multinational retailer operating department stores in the United Kingdom and Denmark. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries. The range of goods sold includes clothing, household items and furniture. In April 2019 and again in April 2020, Debenham’s entered administration.
About Debenhams in brief
Debenhams is a British multinational retailer operating department stores in the United Kingdom and Denmark. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries. The headquarters are in Regent’s Place in the London Borough of Camden and the company owns the Danish department store chain Magasin du Nord. The range of goods sold includes clothing, household items and furniture. In April 2019 and again in April 2020, Debenham’s entered administration. On 1 December 2020, after the collapse of talks with Arcadia and JD Sports over a potential rescue, Debanhams announced it was likely to be liquidated, putting 12,000 jobs at risk. The business was formed by William Clark, who began trading at 44 Wigmore Street in London as a drapers’ store. In 1813, William DebenHam became a partner and the corporate name changed to Clark & Deben Ham. The shop was later renamed Cavendish House and carried drapery, silks, haberdashery, millinery, hosiery, lace and family mourning goods. As the trade grew, the partners determined to expand the business by opening branches in Cheltenham and Harrogate. Around 1843, another branch shop was launched in Harrogates and extended and refurbished premises opened in October 1844. In 1928, the company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1928, shortly after it had purchased fellow retail group Drapery Trust.
In 1976 the company acquired Browns of Chester. It remains the only one of the company’s UK stores to have retained an individual identity. It was targeted three times during the 1980s by the Animal Liberation Front in protest at the sale of animal furs in stores in Romford, Luton and Harrow. As a result of the fire-bombed stores, the worst attack was on the Luton store, with a bomb worth £340,000 being planted in Bob Lambert, a then undercover police officer. In 1979 the chain was sold to Allied Presto Presto who converted the stores into their new Caterliers format. However the business opened two new Cater Halls, opening two new stores in Luton, Romford and Luton in the same year. In the 1990s, the business stopped selling clothes with furs and switched to a modern marketplace marketplace format. The new Cater Hall format was opened two years later in the town of Luton. In 2000, the chain opened two more Cater Halls in Haruton and Romford. In 2002, the store in Loughborough, Essex, opened two Cater Halls and in 2005, the new Caterhall format was introduced. In 2007, Cater Halls opened two stores in Essex and Loughton, Essex. In 2008, Cater Hall was converted into a new Food Halls marketplace. In 2009, Caterhall opened two food halls in Lytham St Mary’s, London. In 2010, Cater hall was converted to a food hall and the new Food Hall was opened in London.
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This page is based on the article Debenhams published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 10, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
