Debenhams closures: What’s happening to all the stores?

When Debenhams was put into liquidation late last year, a question mark was raised over the fate of some of the biggest stores in the UK.

While online retailer Boohoo purchased the brand and website with the intention to relaunch Debenhams as a digital department store, shops were not part of the deal.

With 118 stores in total across towns and cities, Debenhams was often an anchor in the locations it served. But as more spend switched online during the pandemic, the battle for such expensive spaces became less fierce among retailers than it had been in previous years

The final 28 Debenhams stores shut their doors for the final time last weekend. While the future use of many of the stores remains unknown, alternative occupiers are emerging.

Flats and offices

In prime locations in city centres and on high streets across multiple floors, some of the Debenhams stores will be converted into mixed-use spaces.

The higher floors of the former department stores in Torquay and Welwyn Garden City are both due to become residential flats, while the ground level will remain a space for retail activity and restaurants.

All floors of the former Debenhams store in Leicester’s Highcross shopping centre, meanwhile, are set to be converted into 300 rental flats. 

Owner Hammerson submitted plans to Leicester City Council following a public consultation last year.

Retail and leisure

Some former Debenhams stores will become leisure facilities or other retailers will take the space.

There are plans for the top floor and part of the ground floor of Exeter’s Debenhams branch to become a boutique four-screen cinema, complete with a rooftop seating area and bar with views of the city’s cathedral, while the lower floors have yet to be claimed. 

An entertainment centre is expected to replace the former Wandsworth store. The development will include an e-karting area, ping-pong and pool tables, bowling lanes and a cocktail bar.

On the retail front, Marks & Spencer has taken on the Debenhams site in Stevenage and has submitted plans to create a 100,000 sq ft M&S Foodhall across two floors, complete with a cafe.  

The ex-Debenhams location in Bournemouth will also continue as a retail store – under its original department store brand Bobby’s.

Bobby’s, which opened in 1915 but was replaced by Debenhams in 1972, will be revived as part of the new plans.

Developer Verve Properties has said the shop’s original architecture will be restored as much as possible, and the shop will feature local and socially conscious brands in store.

Next beauty halls

Next signed a deal last year to replace five former Debenhams stores with its own standalone beauty offering.

The beauty departments of Debenhams stores in former intu shopping centres Gateshead’s Metrocentre, Atria Watford and Milton Keynes’ Midsummer Place, as well as in Reading’s The Oracle and Centrale in Croydon, which are owned by Hammerson, have all been converted into Next Beauty & Home fascias. 

The first of the stores opened in October 2020, selling a host of beauty brands including YSL, Bobbi Brown, Urban Decay, and Liz Earle, alongside Next’s branded homewares, while the others have all followed since.

Education and culture

The Debenhams store space in Gloucester has been purchased by the University of Gloucestershire, and will be converted into lecture halls and training rooms for nurses and healthcare workers.

The university plans to retain the original shop fascia, and refurbish the five-floor space in time for students to begin studying there by September 2023.

The ground floor of the building will also be home to a local community space.

In Northampton, student accommodation company Zone has also been in talks to secure the former Debenhams location.

The plan would result in the building being converted into 201 luxury studio flats for students, alongside entertainment rooms, a lounge, gym, laundry room and “some retail space”.

Leeds students may also reside in the former Debenhams store in its city centre – plans are in the works to convert the building into “flexible commercial uses” while adding two extra floors for student flats.

Debenhams locations have also been mentioned as the potential home to climate emergency centres run by local communities to offer sustainability focused activities including workshops and art exhibitions alongside vegan cafes.

Owners of these vacant stores are able to reduce their business rates payments by 100% for leasing the property for community or charity benefit such as this. 

Finally, the retailer’s former flagship Oxford Street store in London is proposed to become an art gallery – the Oxford Street Art House would include maker spaces in the basement, a ground floor shop and public library, while the remaining five floors would be gallery spaces for fashion, photography and film.

The top floor would also be home to a roof garden and cafe.

While the former Debenhams shops may not not appeal to retailers in the same way as in the past, a change in the type of occupier could breathe new life into the department stores and into Britain’s retail destinations.