Join me, if you will, for a stroll along London’s Oxford Street. Walking westwards from Oxford Circus, the block that was once BHS is still there, but the department store is long gone. Next you’ll pass John Lewis; even this usually irrepressible retailer says it will make “close to zero” profits in the first half of this year and will be closing five Waitrose stores.
Further on, there’s the flagship House of Fraser store – now due to be culled along with more than half of the brand’s 59 UK outlets. Next there’s Debenhams, another venerable name with problems of its own, prompting its management to slim down 30 of its stores owing to “exceptionally difficult times in UK retail”. Finally, you’ll see Marks & Spencer’s Marble Arch store – it’s not one of the 100-plus that the firm will close by 2022, but M&S has yet to confirm the identity of 65 of those.
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