Otherwise, the familiar but depressing trend of the last decade and a half of rapid retrenchment and decline is set to continue as the online juggernaut hurtles on, leaving gaping holes in town centres up and down the country. Perhaps the work-from-home phenomenon will prompt a long overdue revival of local areas driven by local entrepreneurs. And designer outlets such as Cheshire Oaks and Swindon’s McArthur Glen still command rich valuations.
Retail parks are set for a resurgence too as cautious shoppers shun public transport and city centres. There are chains investing in stores such as Primark and JD Sports but they are the exception to the norm. It will survive, but most probably in pockets and with a growing emphasis on so-called destination retail with theatre at its heart, concentrated in major cities, or affluent market towns, at the expense of poorer provincial towns. That’s not to say the high street is otherwise heading for total annihilation.
Even during a global pandemic it is expected to fetch about £4bn, testament also to the careful stewardship of its Canadian proprietors who restored what was a tired set-up to former glories. While Selfridges customers might spend £250 on a pair of jeans, other mere mortals are more likely to trawl through the endless racks in Marks & Spencer for a bargain pair of slacks.Īnd Selfridges is rarely on the market. Selfridges in London cannot be compared to John Lewis in Basingstoke or House of Fraser in Doncaster. Like its upmarket European equivalents, Selfridges attracts a certain clientele, usually with serious money to spend. Like Harrods, which is owned by Qatar’s royal family Liberty, which is in the hands of private equity and Fortnum and Mason, under the control of the British side of the Weston family, Selfridges is in a prime location, in one of the most visited cities in the world, and a tourist destination in its own right.Ĭentral is controlled by Thailand’s billionaire Chirathivat family, and has built up a collection of high-end stores around the world, including Italy’s Rinascente chain and Kaufhaus des Westens in Berlin. Selfridges is among a handful of enduring retail names that will always pique the interest of trophy asset hunters with deep pockets. It does not signal some dramatic and unexpected shock reversal in the fortunes of the high street, nor does it mean that conventional department stores are on the cusp of a remarkable renaissance. The takeover secures the future of an iconic British institution and is proof that there is still some life in bricks and mortar but it shouldn’t be misinterpreted as anything more than that.
The pandemic has prompted a wave of doomsday predictions about how the boom in online shopping, together with depleted commuter numbers, will accelerate the death of thousands of traditional shops starved of footfall. The deal is a welcome vote of confidence in old-fashioned physical retail at a time when great uncertainty hangs over the high street like the Grim Reaper’s scythe. Weston’s passing also paved the way for one of the world’s most illustrious shopping destinations - the Selfridges department store on Oxford Street in central London - to change hands for the first time in nearly two decades.Īfter a formal bid battle prompted by an opportunistic approach from a mystery suitor, Thai conglomerate Central Group is expected to emerge as the new owner of the broader Selfridges group, which also includes Arnotts in Dublin, just in time for the Christmas rush. The Westons’ fortune is estimated at nearly $9bn, making them one of Canada’s wealthiest families. Weston, a close friend and polo partner of Prince Charles, was an industry titan, turning his father’s food empire into a £30bn retail, property, and distribution colossus with operations spanning Canada, America, and the UK, with about 200,000 employees. The death of retail tycoon W Galen Weston earlier this year at the age of 80 was a seminal moment in retail-land.
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