Allders’ staff briefed on new bosses
Debenhams acquires eight stores
The administrators of the Allders department store group are close enough to a sale of some outlets to have started telling store staff who their new employers will be.
The in-store briefings confirm reports that Kroll, appointed to administrate the 45-store business last month, has agreed the first packages of sales within days.
At Sutton in south London, employees of the Allders store were told on Saturday that Debenhams is acquiring the store, one of a package of eight Allders outlets being taken over by the privately-owned rival department store group.
The five storey Sutton store was purpose-built for Allders in the 1990s to anchor the town’s St Nicholas Centre, replacing an older Allders store in the town. Other stores acquired by Debenhams include the landmark former Arding & Hobbs store at Clapham Junction in London, as well as stores in Basildon, Woking, Portsmouth, Ilford, Chatham and Slough.
A spokesman for Debenhams told the [i]Times [/i]: “We’re really pleased with this deal. Debenhams has got very ambitious plans to expand to more locations and these acquisitions will accelerate those plans.”
Along with Debenhams, other stores are expected to be acquired by the Philip Green-owned Bhs business and discount fashion chain Primark. Debenhams is likely to be interested in larger department stores in towns such as Sutton where it does not already have a presence, and is also known to be looking for smaller outlets for its planned slimmed-down ‘Debenhams light’ format. This would suggest that along with Bhs and Primark, it has cherry-picked the 20 smaller Allders Home sites.
The Allders brand itself may survive in a smaller chain of department stores if former chief executive Harvey Lipsith is successful in a bid to acquire around ten stores.
[img r]allderscroydon25.jpg[/img]Reports also persist that Kroll, working with Allders’ majority shareholder Minerva, is negotiating with John Lewis over the flagship Allders store in Croydon. Property company Minerva bought the freehold of the Croydon site from Scarlett Retail. the company it backed to acquire Allders in 2003.
Ten stores in which Kroll said there had been ‘limited’ interest so far remain earmarked for closure unless buyers can be found.
