Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland, and is still operating as a franchise in seven Middle East countries. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish department store chain Magasin du Nord. In its final years, its headquarters were within the premises of its flagship store in Oxford Street, London. The range of goods sold included middle-to-high-end clothing, beauty, household items, and furniture.
Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman, and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. In May 2023, his net worth was estimated by the Sunday Times Rich List to be £910 million.
TOPSHOP is a British fast-fashion company, which specialises in women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021. It now operates via the ASOS website and app, as well as being sold in Nordstrom stores in the US on Nordstrom.com. TOPSHOP previously had around 510 shops worldwide.
British Home Stores, commonly abbreviated to BHS and latterly legally styled BHS Ltd, was a British department store chain, primarily selling clothing and household items. In its later years, the company began to expand into furniture, electronics, entertainment, convenience groceries and fragrance and beauty products.
Faith was a British shoe retailer founded in 1964 by London accountant Samuel Faith and his wife. In the following years new stores were gradually added, primarily in the South of England. After Samuel's retirement, his son Jonathan acquired the family business which he subsequently sold to Bridgepoint Capital in December 2004 for £65 million.
Arcadia Group Ltd was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (BHS), Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and Warehouse. At its peak, the group had more than 2,500 outlets in the UK and concessions in UK department stores and several hundred franchises operated internationally.
Dorothy Perkins is an online British women's fashion brand based in the United Kingdom. Formerly a store chain, it sold both its own range of clothes and branded fashion goods until February 2021, when it became part of Boohoo.com, having been acquired after the collapse of Philip Green's fashion empire Arcadia Group.
Wallis is an online British women's clothing brand. Previously a retailer, Wallis operated from 134 stores and 126 concessions across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Wallis was a subsidiary of the Arcadia Group before its collapse in late 2020. The brand is now owned by Boohoo.com.
Miss Selfridge is a British fashion brand and former high street store chain which began as the young fashion section of Selfridges department store in London in 1966. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, which went into administration in late 2020. The Miss Selfridge brand was purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021 and now operates exclusively online.
Topman is a UK-based multinational men's fashion retail brand founded by Burton Group in 1978. Along with its women's clothing counterpart Topshop and the rest of Arcadia Group, Topman went into administration in late 2020. All high street stores subsequently closed and the brand was purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021, relaunching as an online-only retailer.
Richard Shops was a British high street retailer of women's fashion.
United Drapery Stores, or UDS, was a British retail group that dominated the British high street from the 1950s to the early 1980s.
Karen Millen is a brand used by online women's clothing retailer Boohoo plc. The brand specialises in tailoring, coats and evening wear. It was acquired in 2019 following the collapse of Karen Millen Fashions Ltd, a company that operated a chain of clothing stores in many countries worldwide. The company was originally founded in 1981 by British entrepreneur fashion designer Karen Millen. She sold it in 2004 and was not subsequently involved in businesses bearing her name.
Principles was a UK-based fashion retailer founded in 1984.
Sir Ralph Mark Halpern was a British businessman, who was the founder of Topshop and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Burton Group from 1979 to 1991.
Burton's, 16–18 High Street, Abergavenny is a shop constructed for the Burton's tailoring company in 1937. The design, by Burton's in-house architect, Nathaniel Martin, is Art Deco in style. The building is listed Grade II* for its "exceptional interest and rarity as a well preserved Burton's store which retains almost all of its 1930s external detailing."
Boohoo Group plc is a British online fast-fashion retailer, aimed at 16 to 30 year olds. The business was founded in 2006, and had sales in 2019 of £856.9 million.
Mahmud Abdullah Kamani is a British billionaire businessman. He is co-founder and executive chairman of Boohoo Group.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a sharp economic toll on the retail industry worldwide as many retailers and shopping centers were forced to shut down for months due to mandated stay-at-home orders. As a result of these closures, online retailers received a major boost in sales as customers looked for alternative ways to shop and the effects of the retail apocalypse were exacerbated. A number of notable retailers filed for bankruptcy including Ascena Retail Group, Debenhams, Arcadia Group, Brooks Brothers, GNC, J. C. Penney, Lord & Taylor and Neiman Marcus.
Debenhams, a trading name of Debenhams Brands Ltd, is an online retailer owned by Boohoo.com. The company was formed in 2021 after Boohoo purchased the website operations and rights to the name of the department store group Debenhams, which had entered liquidation.
