A different breed of department store is now stepping in to the gaps left by the closures of high street behemoths such as Debenhams and House of Fraser.
Bucking the decline, regional department stores are enjoying a buoyant trading period following a renewed consumer appetite for physical shopping. With a hyper-focused view of the local consumer and continued investment into stores, experiences and brand relationships, independent department stores are hitting a sweet spot on local high streets.
Debenhams permanently shuttered the doors to its bricks-and-mortar business in 2021, and House of Fraser has halved in size from 59 stores to 29 since it was bought out of administration by Frasers Group in 2018, and some independent businesses are making use of the available space.
Last October, family-owned department store Bradbeers, which has five total locations in Hampshire and Southampton, opened in the former 57,288 sq ft Debenhams store in Salisbury, Wiltshire. The vast space now features a brand new shopfit, new floors and ceilings as well as a café.
In November, Camp Hopson, part of the eight-store chain Morleys – which are focused mainly in the Greater London area with a flagship in Brixton, opened a second fascia in Newbury, Berkshire, by taking on a 21,215 sq ft unit previously occupied by Wilko, which collapsed into administration in August.
Department stores are filling the duty of bringing products into the smaller towns where retailers could not afford a shop
Mark Dransfield, owner of three-store chain Sandersons
As of March 2024, there are 139 independent department stores in England and Wales, up from 122 in 2014, shows exclusive research compiled by Local Data Company (LDC).
Ronald Nyakairu, head of insight and analytics at LDC, says: “Independent department stores have remained resilient over the research period, due to their original, niche and often quirky offering, which cannot be replicated online unlike their chain equivalents who have almost completely disappeared from our high streets.”
Faced with the constantly evolving retail landscape, independent retailers have been quick to adapt, from investing in physical experiences and digital capacities to collaborating with brands and focusing on personal service. These department stores are future proofing their businesses to make sure they cater for their specific local consumer base for many years to come.
Investing in stores
The pandemic lockdowns forced the temporary closure of many retail shops, but it was not the time to stand still for independent department stores. Instead, many took the lockdown as an opportunity to renovate their stores and upgrade their physical experiences.
North Yorkshire department store Barkers Northallerton made a £40,000 investment into refurbishing its 1882 bistro, one of the store’s four restaurants in 2020. Managing director Guy Barker says: “I think it’s really important in our department store mix to have a good food offering that gets customers through the door. We took that opportunity while we were closed during Covid.”
The food hall at Jarrolds, Norwich
Similarly, Norfolk-based department store Jarrolds trebled the size of its food hall when it opened a second wine bar and a walk-in cheese room in September 2022.
Jarrolds’ managing director John Adams says the expanded food hall has not only increased footfall and dwell time but also attracted a younger audience, “which gave us an opportunity to convert the next-generation customers into the brand. It has actually changed people’s perception of the store much more so than doing a revamp of fashion or beauty.
“We are shifting from just selling merchandise to selling experiences more, which extends to things like expanding our beauty services, spa treatment and personal shopping.”
Also focusing on physical experiences is new entrant Sparks Bristol, which opened in May 2023 in the former Marks & Spencer building on Broadmead street, Bristol, as a joint hub between education charity Global Goals Centre and art organisation Artspace Lifespace.
With a focus on creativity and sustainability, the two-floor shop has a travel agency, a gallery and a gift shop, alongside fashion and food offerings. Jenny Foster, project director of Sparks, calls the store “a reimagined department store, showcasing ways of repairing, reusing and upcycling”.
The fashion floor at Sparks Bristol
The fashion floor has eight independent traders offering a range of vintage and upcycled collections as well as personal styling services with second-hand clothing and repair workshops.
Foster continues: “To have that mixed-use of a space is really appealing to people because it becomes a destination. We’re trying to draw people back into that wonderful personal experience that we all used to love on a Saturday.”
Omnichannel offering
Beside drawing people into the stores with experiences and events, independent department stores are also stepping up their omnichannel capacity, from introducing next-day delivery to improving back-end stock systems.
In December, Jarrolds acquired Norwich-based delivery courier RDM Distribution, which has allowed the business to provide its customers with next-day delivery across Norfolk.
The deal provided the business “an opportunity to unlock more omnichannel engagement with our local customers that know the brand”, Adams explains.
For Austins in Newton Abbot, Devon, digital transformation has been high on the agenda for the past few years.
The retailer achieved a real-time vision of stock in 2021, followed by the launch of a new website in 2022 and a partnership with retail technology firm Near Street in April 2023, which helps retailers showcase their in-store products when people search on Google and Facebook.
It also introduced a click-and-collect service in late 2023 and is currently planning to turn its customer loyalty programme into an app.
Managing director David Austin explains: “If [a customer] is looking for something like a toy or a bomber jacket, [our store] will come right up on their local Google searches. And because of the real-time stock we’ve got in the store, that all works really well.
“We’ve brought ourselves from that position of being just a shop where you go and look, to a shop that has a Google presence, a website, and click and collect. We’ve got to do all these things to keep ourselves relevant.”
We are 254 years old but we try and think like a start-up
John Adams, managing director of Jarrolds
Brand relationships
A relevant, interesting mix of labels can be the make-or-break of a business. Independent operators are constantly reviewing their brand mix, looking for newness and working with their brand partners to curate the collections.
Mark Dransfield, owner of the Sandersons department store mini-chain, which opened in 2016 in Sheffield’s Fox Valley shopping centre, followed by two other locations in Morpeth, Northumberland in 2020 and Stroud, Gloucestershire in 2021, thinks independent businesses have an opportunity to set themselves apart when it comes to their brand mix:
“We are constantly reviewing our suppliers. When we started the business, we had entry-level perfumery and [we realised] we can’t compete with Superdrug and Boots so we made a conscious decision [in 2020] to move forward from there. Now our entry price points on perfumery starts at £90 and our exit price is £430.”
The store’s bestselling fragrance brands include Parisian labels Marc Antoine Barrois and Initio, both of which count Sandersons as a major stockist in the UK.
“Department stores are filling the duty of bringing products into the smaller towns where retailers could not afford a shop, so small capsules inside a department store work well,” adds Dransfield.
The fragrance section at Sandersons, Sheffield
Austins’ David Austin says the business is “always keen on bringing in new ranges”, with Nobody’s Child, French Connection, Bugatti and Lambretta making their debut in for spring/summer 24.
He thinks it is crucial to keep the business’s offerings “fairly grounded”: “If we can get more premium brands that work, we will. But at the same time, we’re very aware that we’re a provincial store in a relatively small town. We must continue to serve our local populace really well and give them the kind of price points they like.”
Meanwhile, independent department stores have become increasingly important for brands that used to work with House of Fraser and Debenhams as well as new brands coming to the UK market.
Dutch menswear brand A fish named Fred was founded in 2011 in and entered the UK market in 2020. It is stocked in department stores including Elliotts of Lymington in Hampshire, Austins of Newton Abbot, Bradbeers and Coes – which has five stores in south east of England.
“With the demise of the large department store groups such as Debenhams and House of Fraser we see great opportunity both now and for the future of independent retail,” says Sarah Pinnock, director of NP Agency, which represents the brand in the UK.
As an outdoor-themed brand known for its bright colours and quirky patterns, A fish named Fred has also been working with independent department stores to bring its products to life, from supplying inflatable surf boards and canoes, to promoting its “Fred of the year” trophy where retailers ask customers to post a picture of themselves wearing their newly purchased outfit from the brand.
“This creates a bit of fun and at the same time building stronger relationships between retailer and end consumer,” Pinnock adds.
A fish named Fred branded area
British heritage brand Peregrine has also been working with more independent department stores following the closures of Debenhams and House of Fraser. The brand counts Coes, Morleys, four-store chain Hoopers and Jarrolds as part of its 70 independent stockists.
Managing director Tom Glover says: “The sales number from these department stores are fairly steady for us over the years but we’ve picked up more of them recently. We have been with Morleys for just three years and Jarrolds for two years.”
Personal service
Independent businesses also pride themselves on the level of personal service they can provide to the customers, a quality that separates them from national retailers.
“I think one thing that independents have going for them is the ability to offer a personal service where we really got to know our customers,” Barker says, “A lot of our team on the fashion and beauty floor would know our customers by their name, what brands they like and they even remember what the customers bought last season. It really makes the customers feel valued.”
Sandersons’ Dransfield says it is important to keep its community engaged with what is happening in the store: “We can see who the top 100 purchasers are so we would send them a free invite when there is an event, such as a champagne evening, and they can also get a preview of the new collections.”
Sandersons department store in Sheffield
If customer service is kept at a high standard, there is a bright future for independent businesses, says Austin: “I think in a way our time has come. We have this fantastic customer base and are part of our local community. I think if we do it right, we can be good enough to survive and thrive.”
Jarrolds’ Adams echoes this: “One of the things we often talk about in the business is that we are 254 years old but we try and think like a start-up.
“We have a huge loyal following in Norfolk and what we have to do is to keep relevant to those people and keep moving forward, and if we do that, there is a really exciting future and we can become that shiny bastion of what great retail looks like.”
