Debenhams may be set to close 50 stores but Plymouth’s won’t be one of them after the company revealed it had just hammered out a 10-year rental deal with its landlord The British Land Company Ltd.
The under-pressure retailer briefly went into administration in April 2019 and has since been working on a turnaround plan which will see it axe 50 stores with the loss of about 4,000 jobs.
But Plymouth’s is now highly unlikely to be on that list after the firm revealed it had inked a new lease, which won’t expire until 2029, on its huge city centre block, bounded by New George Street and Royal Parade.
Store bosses said Debenhams will also be bringing in new brands in autumn 2019 including Kley sweatshirts, hoodies and t-shirts.
Mark Ashman, Debenhams’ managing director of stores, operations and food said: “It’s good news that we are here to stay in Plymouth. I am sorry that our colleagues have had to deal with the uncertainty while we were in discussions over the store’s future, but I have been very impressed with their continuing professionalism and commitment to our customers.”
Debenhams has been damaged by the retail meltdown which has accounted for the likes of Toys R Us, Maplin, and others.
It went into administration briefly in April 2019 and swiftly brought in turnaround guru Stefaan Vansteenkiste as chief restructuring officer.
He has now been promoted to chief executive, replacing Sergio Bucher, who was ousted from the Debenhams board earlier this year.
Mr Vansteenkiste has been working with the Debenhams executive team on a business plan which will resurrect the company.
However, it has said it will close 50 of its 166 UK stores, with the first 22 planned to shut in 2020, leading to more than 4,000 redundancies.
Debenhams’ chairman Terry Duddy is leaving in September, the same month as a court hearing will take place following a legal challenge funded by Sports Direct International to a the financial restructuring approved earlier in 2019.
Debenhams was taken over by creditors in April following a battle with Sports Direct supremo Mike Ashley, who has a large shareholding in Debanhams and is believed to want to take over the company.
Meanwhile, hedge funds including Goldentree Asset Management and Silver Point now own large stakes in Debenhams via a holding company called Celine.
The new decaede-long lease on the Plymouth store will also be welcomed by British Land, the huge company which owns a vast swathe of Plymouth City Centre including the Drake Circus Shopping Centre, the gigantic block which includes the House of Fraser and Debenhams stores, and is constructing the multiplex cinema-led £53million Drake Circus Leisure development at nearby Bretonside.
In May 2019 British Land revealed an eye-watering loss of £319million and blamed the retail carnage across the UK for the defecit.
Full year results revealed a pre-tax plunge compared to a profit of £501million made just a year earlier.
It blamed “an especially challenging retail environment and an unpredictable UK macroeconomic backdrop” and said it had lost £16.9million just from shops going into administration or CVA (company voluntary arrangement).
