One of Brighton’s biggest shops was due to sell off the last of its stock as it prepared to shut its doors for the final time today (Saturday 15 May).
Debenhams, the anchor store at the Churchill Square Shopping Centre, was scheduled to close for good this afternoon.
The department store marked the end of an era by promising 70 per cent off fashion and home items and up to 50 per cent off beauty and fragrance products.
Debenhams said: “This is the last chance for customers to visit their local Debenhams before sadly our stores close for good.
“Stocks are limited and expected to sell out quickly so customers should visit their nearest store quickly to avoid disappointment.
“We are very grateful for the efforts of our staff who have worked so hard throughout the most difficult of circumstances to keep the business trading.”
The department store chain traced its history back 240 years and, in Brighton, was a fixture in Western Road before moving to its current premises about 20 years ago.
At one time there were more than 150 Debenhams stores across the country but the chain went into administration in 2019 after years of falling sales.
And the coronavirus restrictions proved fatal to the ailing business.
In December, Debenhams said that the company would be wound up with the loss of 12,000 jobs.
When the latest lockdown was lifted, almost a hundred stores – including the Brighton branch – reopened for a final stock clearance.
But the Debenhams brand looks likely to continue trading online after it was bought by fashion retailer Boohoo for £55 million in January.
The area occupied by Churchill Square was once a series of terraced houses and small work units, demolished in the Sixties. Perhaps it will now return to housing in place of the current, unappetising chain-store bunker? Why do people lament the end of chain stores? Generations have appeared, and thrived, since the end of Woolworth’s, British Home Stores, and so on. Look at how Blatchington Road and Portland Road in Hove are attracting more people than George Street.