() is a
Retailer with a chain of
Department Store s based in the
United Kingdom , and franchised stores in a number of other countries. It is listed on the
London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index .
The original 'Debenham & Freebody' store was based at number 33
Wigmore Street ,
London . This site is still used by the company and houses its communications departments, including their Press Office.
The modern Debenhams group grew from the acquisition of department stores in towns and cities throughout the UK, through its chairman
Ernest Debenham . The first of such purchases,
Marshall & Snelgrove in
Oxford Street ,
London was acquired in 1919. Later purchases included stores such as
Harvey Nichols in London's
Knightsbridge 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.
Like many companies of this type Debenhams had some hard times. In 1997, however, Belinda Earl, who had previously worked for the company, returned to become its Chief Executive. She and Spencer Hawken introduced "Designers at Debenhams" which brought a variety of well known fashion talents to the stores at affordable prices, shaking off the dated perception of the company.
The company expanded rapidly throughout the 1990s and now has a total of 135 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.
Debenhams also offers 'Debenhams Wedding Gift Service', where couples can create their wedding gift lists, from which guests can buy. In addition to the consumer website where customers can purchase goods online, the company now offers 'Debenhams To You', a service where goods can be ordered over the telephone, either from the customer's home or through a special in-store telephone, and delivered direct to the customer.
Selected Debenhams stores offer a personal shopping service. This is a service requiring an appointment, made either over the telephone, or in store. The personal shopper is trained to look at the requirements of the individual customer and with an appeciation of current trends and broad knowledge of Debenhams product ranges advises the customer and selects items on their behalf.
The company was taken over in late 2003 by a private consortium comprising
CVC Capital Partners ,
Texas Pacific Group ,
Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity and management. The company returned to the stock exchange on
4th May 2006 .
Debenhams was voted 8th 'most favourably viewed brand' by 'Marketing Magazine' in 2006.
The store has been trialling a compact version called 'Desire by Debenhams' which is mainly aimed at the female market with clothing ranges by 'Designers at Debenhams' and cosmetics.
Aside from department stores, Debenhams operates a number of other divisions, including 'Debenhams Finance' (offering home, car and travel insurance and bureau de change services) and 'Debenhams Mobile' (offering mobile phones).
On
8 August 2006 it was confirmed that Debenhams is to buy 9 of the 11
Roches Stores department stores in Ireland and operate them as Debenhams.
Underlying sales performance has been poorer than expected following the company's recent return to the stockmarket led by Rob Templeman. The existing final salary pension scheme is to be axed following 'financial strain' on the company.
Debenhams stores are currently departmentalized 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, 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.
Part of Debenhams's source of business is concessions. These are 'shops-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 ladieswear lines. The 'Designers at Debenhams' include
Jasper Conran ,
John Richmond ,
John Rocha ,
The Duffer Of St. George and
Betty Jackson .
Debenham's website is run by a separate company called Debenhams Direct, which also operates their catalogue shopping service. Not all stock shown on the website will be available in any particular store, and vice versa. Orders placed in store via, for example, the Debenham's Wedding Service may be delivered in part by Debenhams and in part by Debenhams Direct.
All of the company's UK department stores currently trade as 'Debenhams', except '
Browns ' in
Chester . Debenhams also operates an expanding number of 'Desire by Debenhams' concept stores, the first of which opened in
Truro in 2004.
- Bath (opening with the completion of the Southgate redevelopment c. 2009)
- Bournemouth (formerly Bobbys Bournemouth)
- Bristol (formerly Jones)
- Exeter (formerly Bobbys Exeter / Green & Son; relocating in August 2007 to the new Princesshay shopping development)
- Plymouth (formerly Spooners and John Yeo)
- Salisbury (formerly Style & Gerrish)
- Swindon
- Taunton (formerly W & A Chapman)
- Taunton , Bedford House (Taunton Head Office)
- Torquay (formerly Bobbys Torquay)
- Truro , Desire by Debenhams
- Weymouth
All department stores in international locations (except the Republic of Ireland) trade as 'Debenhams' name under franchise agreements. Two of the franchisees '
Ermes ' in
Cyprus and '
Sogo ' in
Indonesia also buy Debenhams goods to sell in their own department stores (as well as operating full-line Debenhams franchise stores).
- Jakarta , Mal Kelapa Gading , Sogo Mal Kelapa Gading
- Jakarta , Plaza Indonesia (formerly the west wing of Sogo Plaza Indonesia)
- Jakarta , Plaza Senayan , Sogo Plaza Senayan
- Jakarta , Senayan City
- Medan , Sun Plaza , Sogo Sun Plaza
- Surabaya , Tunjungan Plaza , Sogo Tunjungan Plaza
A Debenhams was opened at
Berjaya Times Square ,
Kuala Lumpur . It was closed in 2006.
Unlike other international locations, all Republic of Ireland stores are directly operated by Debenhams plc under the company name Debenham Retail (Ireland) Ltd. The premises of the former
Roches Stores are leased from the Roche family.
