is a chain of
Department Store s based in the
United Kingdom . Debenhams Retail Plc is part of the Debenhams Group of Companies which is owned by
CVC Capital Partners ,
Texas Pacific Group ,
Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity and management.
The company's origins can be traced back to a drapery shop opened in
1778 on
London 's
Wigmore Street .
The modern Debenhams group grew from the acquisition of department stores in towns and cities throughout the UK. The first of such purchases,
Marshall & Snelgrove in
Oxford Street ,
London was acquired in
1919 . Later purchases included stores such as
Rylands in
Manchester and
Browns of
Chester . Most stores retained their former identities until a unified corporate image was rolled out across the stores.
Debenhams was listed on the
London Stock Exchange in
1928 and continued to expand. In
1985 the company was acquired by the
Burton Group . At this point the company owned 65 stores. Debenhams demerged in
1998 and was once again listed as a separate company.
The company expanded rapidly throughout the
1990 s and now has a total of 120 stores in the UK and
Ireland with new stores recently opened at the
MetroCentre in
Gateshead and
Hemel Hempstead ,
Hertfordshire .
In
2002 the
Nectar Loyalty Card was introduced with Debenhams as a major sponsor. This card now allows customers to collect loyalty points from a range of retailers such as
Sainsbury's ,
BP ,
Beefeater and Ford amongst others. Despite some criticism, the Debenhams Account Card is still a major source of revenue for the company ensuring customer loyalty and targeted mailings.
The company was taken over by a private consortium in late
2003 . Recent speculation predicts a return to the
Stock Exchange in
2006 .
Debenhams stores are currently departmentalised as follows:
- (Cosmetics, Fragrances & Toiletries)
- (Designer Women's Clothing, Bridalwear & Lingerie)
- (Men's Casual Clothing, Sportswear, Formalwear, Men's Accessories, Footwear)
- (Handbags, Jewellery, Men's & Women's watches, Women's Footwear)
- (Red Herring, Oasis, Morgan, Jane Norman, Topshop etc)
- (Bedding, Electrical, Furniture, Soft Furnishings, China, Lighting, Luggage & Kitchenware)
- (Children's Clothes, Accessories, Footwear & Toys)
- (The Restaurant & Cafe Venue in most stores)
- (also known as Celebration)
Debenhams stores vary greatly in size from the flagship store in
Oxford Street ,
London to the smaller stores in locations such as
Bangor . Some such stores do not have a full range of departments.
A major source of business is concessions. These are 'shop-in-shops' which can be found in most Debenhams stores such as Young Fashion companies 'Oasis' and Ladieswear outlet 'Evans'.
The company's innovation has proved successful by introducing branding into its menswear and ladies' wear lines. The 'Designers at Debenhams' include
Jasper Conran ,
John Richmond and
John Rocha .
All but three of the company's UK department stores currently trade as 'Debenhams'. The exceptions are '
Browns ' in
Chester and 'Desire by Debenhams' concept stores in
South Shields and
Truro .
All department stores in international locations trade under the 'Debenhams' name except 'Ermes' in
Cyprus and 'SOGO' in
Indonesia which are
Franchise stores operated independently of Debenhams Limited.
