Debenhams closing

[Hellin301]

I thought there would be a new buyer. Can’t believe 12,000 people will lose their jobs!

I feel sad about this news. In our local town it’s the biggest store and the focus of the high street.

constantly being asked if you want to have a Debenhams card whenever you pay,

This was annoying as hell. Staff would then continue the hard sell even after I said no (not that I blame them...pretty sure they had big targets). Eventually came up with an effective one-liner 'I'm not based in the UK' which ended the conversation within 5 seconds. But you know it's bad when you have to practice your lines when at the checkout.

I dont know why but sometimes big name shops seem to lose their way and everyone can see it but they just keep going right into the ditch. Debenhams is like this, the writing's been on the wall for a while now.

Sorry for those losing their jobs but I'm not sorry the High Street is getting a shake up, it's needed one for a while.

@Redolent

constantly being asked if you want to have a Debenhams card whenever you pay,

This was annoying as hell. Staff would then continue the hard sell even after I said no (not that I blame them...pretty sure they had big targets). Eventually came up with an effective one-liner 'I'm not based in the UK' which ended the conversation within 5 seconds. But you know it's bad when you have to practice your lines when at the checkout.

I used to say - not just in Debenhams but in other shops where they push a loyalty card - that I had one but had left it at home. But then they started asking for your email so that one was scuppered.

I worked part time in Debenhams a couple of years back and with the loyalty card thing we literally HAD to ask you, were were told exactly how to ask and how to push it and if the manager was around and heard you serving someone without you asking them then you would be bollocked. And yes there were targets to be met, do you honestly think people WANT to hassle you? No, they just want to keep their jobs.

I worked in BHS as a student, I look back in horror now at the pushing of the credit cards.

BHS there’s a name from the past! I’ll always remember their lights section which even in the early 2000s all the lamps and lampshades looked like they were from the 70s.

The only good thing about Debenhams in recent years was the cafe.

Oh god yes the Debenhams card. I had my first saturday job in Debenhams (as part of a concession) I used to hope people weren't going to open a card, as it took so long to fill in the form with all its carbon copies.
I have actually got a Debenhams card and the interest rates are horrific (way worse than many others)

You mooching round the shops and trying a lipstick on does not keep businesses afloat though.

Just the tip of the iceberg I fear. Our government seems to be giving us the worst of both worlds, with restrictions that are enough to kill the economy but not enough to suppress covid-19.

I think the only department store left in Birmingham now will be Selfridges? John Lewis closed their store after lockdown 1, Debenhams to go. Don't know if House of Fraser is still there but it was an uninviting box when I last went.

@guesswhosbac

I worked part time in Debenhams a couple of years back and with the loyalty card thing we literally HAD to ask you, were were told exactly how to ask and how to push it and if the manager was around and heard you serving someone without you asking them then you would be bollocked. And yes there were targets to be met, do you honestly think people WANT to hassle you? No, they just want to keep their jobs.

I completely understand that staff were ordered to ask people about the card which is why I was always polite in my refusal but I don't have to like it and so I took my business elsewhere.

Literally the only thing the high street can do is give people a pleasant shopping experience and if they can't do that then, sadly, fewer and fewer people will bother to go to shops and more and more will order online.

Debenham in Southampton used to be amazing. It felt huge with a cafe and loads of departments we would spend hours. In recent years it just felt mundane and empty

@guesswhosbac

I worked part time in Debenhams a couple of years back and with the loyalty card thing we literally HAD to ask you, were were told exactly how to ask and how to push it and if the manager was around and heard you serving someone without you asking them then you would be bollocked. And yes there were targets to be met, do you honestly think people WANT to hassle you? No, they just want to keep their jobs.

I worked for them a few years back too and remember staff being put through disciplinary procedures for not opening accounts! The fact they were asking and customers were refusing wasn't a good enough excuse! The interest rates were ridiculous but card holders were where the money was coming from.

I quite liked Debenhams

I get the argument that Covid has just accelerated their demise but it hasn’t just accelerated it - it’s put the foot to the floor and driven it off a cliff

And sadly yet again it will more (predominantly young) people out of work

Good.

They took my money in March for a gift card my child saved hard for when I ordered good online. They didn't send the goods. They ignored repeated attempts to call customer service - just shut it down with no one manning phones or emails.

They ignored me reporting them to Trading Standards. They refused to sign for the registered letter I sent to their Head Office and Customer Service dept. I have still had no communication whatsoever from them, despite all my attempts to call. They just stole my child's money basically.

They are thieving arseholes and I couldn't care less. Karma.

I feel sad about this news today. The job loses along with those from the Arcadia group are so saddening.

I don’t want to shop online, I enjoy looking round shops, trying things on and feeling the material etc. In a shop I would try something on that I wasn’t quite sure about and sometimes it would be nice whereas online I wouldn’t order as can’t be bothered with having to do the returns etc.

I had a terrible experience in my local Debenhams earlier in the year - as others have suggested, treated abysmally by the very rude staff. Made to walk quite some distance across the shop floor because I’d unwittingly arrived at the till from the wrong direction (early morning, no other customers). Tbh it felt as though the shop assistants were deliberately enjoying wielding power via senseless rules. John Lewis, marks and Spencer very different.

Tape everywhere, rules. Very unfriendly.

Said I’d never set foot in the place again after that.

No the one in Meadowhall was not a nice store.

The makeup bit was nice, and the home stuff, but the clothing section was horrible. Dated, cluttered, no changing rooms ( before lockdown) just selling identical stuff whatever the brand.

@guesswhosbac

I worked part time in Debenhams a couple of years back and with the loyalty card thing we literally HAD to ask you, were were told exactly how to ask and how to push it and if the manager was around and heard you serving someone without you asking them then you would be bollocked. And yes there were targets to be met, do you honestly think people WANT to hassle you? No, they just want to keep their jobs.

Yep, same experience here.

Problem with Debenhams is that they simply couldn’t service the debts they have. Its not that someone has called their debt, but just that regular payments cannot be met when you have forced closures of shops, and while the government has been paying staff wages, that does nothing to help the large number of other ongoing costs like rent, debt repayments, payments to suppliers for goods delivered months ago, business rates, pension contributions, etc.

All very predictable. The UK economy is incredibly reliant on consumer spending, and if you close all the shops and tell people to stay at home that consumer spending grinds to a halt. As much as Professor Whitty and Co are health experts, they are not economic experts and the sidelining of the economic impact to preserve public health has been a major failing of the government's response.

The worst is yet to come - even the government themselves are predicting an 11% contraction in GDP which would be shocking over an extended period of time, but for that to happen within 18 months is almost unprecedented and all self inflected. It's a compete disgrace, especially so from a Conservative government which has traditionally always been very pro-business and pro the economy.

Quite likely that the worst is still to come

@FredtheFerret

Good.

They took my money in March for a gift card my child saved hard for when I ordered good online. They didn't send the goods. They ignored repeated attempts to call customer service - just shut it down with no one manning phones or emails.

They ignored me reporting them to Trading Standards. They refused to sign for the registered letter I sent to their Head Office and Customer Service dept. I have still had no communication whatsoever from them, despite all my attempts to call. They just stole my child's money basically.

They are thieving arseholes and I couldn't care less. Karma.

So you are gleeful that 12,000 people have lost their jobs?

Shame on you

I don't think they can blame Covid for the overall demise, though it probably accelerated the process.

Poor business model and not keeping up with how consumers shop.

@FredtheFerret

Good.

They took my money in March for a gift card my child saved hard for when I ordered good online. They didn't send the goods. They ignored repeated attempts to call customer service - just shut it down with no one manning phones or emails.

They ignored me reporting them to Trading Standards. They refused to sign for the registered letter I sent to their Head Office and Customer Service dept. I have still had no communication whatsoever from them, despite all my attempts to call. They just stole my child's money basically.

They are thieving arseholes and I couldn't care less. Karma.

If only karma actually existed ...

Bit of a shitty post isn't it? Yes, that must have been very annoying for you, and shouldn't have happened, but it's a bit cruel to be so gleeful when 12,000 innocent people are losing their jobs during this pandemic.

Horrendous customer service. So many times. I’m so sorry for 11999 of the staff but karma has prevailed on one manager who told a big fat lie and got found out.

It’s appalling that these jobs have gone.

But what is more appallling is these stores were never updated or had a bigger online presence. I mean Dorothy Perkins? How is that a modern store can trade with a name like Dorothy? I never really saw any difference between DP and Wallis. Just seas of plastic clothing. Who were their target market?

They could all have followed the Next same day delivery mode, or the basics market now cornered by Uniqlo. But they didn’t. They carried in trading as if it was 20 years ago.

Whilst all the newcomers came and stole the market from under them. Boohoo, PLT, ASOS for online. Monki, Cos, Arket bit better fabrics/ethics/ style. Zara has replaced Top Shoo as cutting edge. But Too Shop is a powerful brand, and could rise again.