DEBENHAMS STORES CLOSE THEIR DOORS
TWO of Wales’ largest department stores closed their doors for the final time yesterday. The Debenhams stores in St David’s shopping centre in Cardiff and The Quadrant shopping centre in Swansea were busy with shoppers as prices for the remaining stock were slashed and reductions of up to 80% were on offer.
Once full to the brim with fragrances, make-up, clothing and gifts, most of the shelves at the iconic high street stores were bare by mid-morning, with only one or two floors remaining open to customers at both outlets.
Empty make-up counters, bare clothing racks and boxes of disused coat hangers littered the vast empty shop floors and most of the tills were closed and silent as the brand prepares to move to an online-only operation through the new owner boohoo.com.
These were the final hours for Debenhams in Wales and the rest of the UK as the department store closed its remaining 28 stores for good.
A staple of British high streets for more than 200 years, Debenhams struggled to carry on during the coronavirus lockdowns before it was finally announced in January that the beloved brand would close all of its UK stores with the loss of around 12,000 jobs.
On the final day of high street trading for the 243-year-old brand, both remaining Welsh stores displayed a closing time of 4.30 pm, but staff confirmed that the shops would close earlier if “everything gets sold” sooner.
The Cardiff store was busy yesterday morning as customers grabbed the last remaining sale stock on its final day of trading.
Debenhams had been running a huge fire sale throughout May as it cleared its remaining items before the brand becomes a fully online operation.
Many of the shelves were already empty by mid-morning but there were clothes left on some of the sale racks for customers to grab a lastminute bargain.
Hugely popular brand counters like Benefit, Calvin Klein and Yves Saint Laurent were completely empty, along with many others.
Shoppers were only allowed on the ground and first floors, with the second floor closed off completely.
It was a similar scene in Swansea. The flagship Debenhams store in The Quadrant shopping centre has been the cornerstone of the city’s retail offering for more than 40 years and leaves a gaping hole at the centre of Swansea’s largest shopping precinct.
Staff couldn’t say what time on yesterday the store would shut for the final time, but said they expected to close “when everything was gone”.
Only the ground floor remained open at lunchtime, with the majority of shelves cleared and minimal stock left on display.
Deals of up to 80% off clothing were on offer.
At both stores, staff could be seen hugging and were visibly emotional at the closure of the high street retailer.