Selfridges to scale back expansion
New owners to focus on existing sites
October 28 2003
The new owners of department store Selfridges are cutting back on plans to expand the chain around the UK.
Canadian retail entrepreneur Galen Weston plans to focus on the four existing sites rather than continue the expansion programme implemented by the store group over the past five years.
As a result, plans for a store at the Broadmead shopping centre in Bristol has been have been pulled, while planned developments in Newcastle and Leeds are also under review. A store at the Trongate development in Glasgow, where the site has been purchased, is likely to proceed.
Selfridges has opened two stores in Manchester, as well as another last month at Bullring, Birmingham. The move beyond the flagship store in Oxford Street was the retailer’s first venture outside the capital since it sold a regional department store chain in the 1960s.
A company spokeswoman told the BBC the new regime at Selfridges has “different investment priorities.”
Weston acquired Selfridges in July. His family also controls London stores Heals and Fortnum & Mason, along with Brown Thomas in Dublin.
