Green to shut down shops

Sir Philip Green is looking to substantially reduce his empire’s footprint on the High Street.

The retail tycoon’s group, Arcadia, plans to close down poorly performing shops by allowing leases to expire when they come up for renewal.

Arcadia’s brands include Topshop, dorothy Perkins, Burton, Miss Selfridge and Wallis & Evans.

A source close to 66-year- old Green ( pictured) said his group would ‘love to reduce the size of all the chains substantially’.

They told Property Week: ‘It has shed quite a bit of space in the past few years, but it is a slow process. At least all the brands are still profitable, unlike many others in the High Street.’

Stephen Boyce, Arcadia’s property director, said the business regularly reviewed its property portfolio.

He said: ‘ When a lease expires, we taken the opportunity to review the store location and lease terms and decide whether to renew. There are no plans to change this approach.’ In its latest accounts, Arcadia holding company Taveta revealed it had shut 234 stores in the year to August 26, 2017. It comes after hundreds of Arcadia concessions were put under threat because of potential debenhams store closures. Green’ s retail empire reported sales of £1.9bn in its latest accounts, down from £2bn the previous year.