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.
Next plc, trading as Next (styled as NEXT) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Next is the largest clothing retailer by sales in the United Kingdom, having overtaken Marks & Spencer in early 2012 and 2014. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
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.
Burton is a British online clothing retailer, former high street retailer and clothing manufacturer, specialising in men's clothing and footwear. The company was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but became a trading name of Arcadia Group Brands Ltd, part of the Arcadia Group. Sir Philip Green acquired the Arcadia Group in 2002, and it became the sole owner of Burton. In 2021, Boohoo.com acquired the brand after Arcadia went into administration.
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.
Peacocks is a fast-fashion retail chain from the United Kingdom-based in Cardiff, Wales. The chain is now part of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill group, and employs over 6,000 people. There are currently over four hundred Peacocks retail outlets located in the United Kingdom; and more than two hundred stores located in twelve other countries throughout Europe.
JD Sports Fashion plc, commonly known as JD Sports, JD or JD Group is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The Pentland Group owns 55% of the company.
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.
Frasers Group plc is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser.
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.
Sears plc was a large British-based conglomerate. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Charles Clore in the 1950s who expanded the company to be one of the largest retailers in Britain. It was acquired by Philip Green in 1999 who oversaw the break up of the group.
Mosaic Fashions hf was a holding company listed on the Icelandic stock exchange that owned several fashion brands. At its peak it had over 2,000 stores worldwide, as concessions, franchises and joint venture stores.
Aurora Fashions was a holding company of several retail fashion brands, formed in 2009 to purchase a number of businesses from the collapsed Mosaic Fashions. The company operated over 1,250 stores in 38 countries, including franchises, under the Oasis, Warehouse and Coast brands.
Wiggle is an online brand of the Frasers Group, having been bought after WiggleCRC went into administration with losses of £97 million.
Coast is a British women's clothing retail chain, founded in 1996.
Umar Kamani is an English fashion retailer and businessman. At 24, Kamani and his brother Adam co-founded a fashion firm and online retail company selling clothing, accessories and other items to women mainly aged between 12 and 25, "PrettyLittleThing.com."
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 of £856.9 million in 2019.
PrettyLittleThing is a UK-based fast-fashion retailer, aimed at 16- to 24-year-old women. The company is owned by Boohoo Group and operates in the UK, Ireland, Australia, US, France, Middle East and North Africa. The brand's headquarters are in Manchester. PrettyLittleThing has offices in London, Paris and Los Angeles.
Select Fashion is a British fashion retailer with over 105 stores nationwide, owned by the Turkish entrepreneur Cafer Mahiroğlu. It was founded in the early 1980s and sells items such as clothing, accessories and footwear. The chain predominately sells clothing aimed at 18- to 45-year-olds as well as children's clothing. The chain fell into administration in 2019.
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.
