Hundreds of jobs are at risk as House of Fraser announced plans to close another four of its stores, all of which are located within Intu shopping centres, after Sports Direct failed to agree a deal with landlord Intu. The department store today confirmed that the four stores closing down in early 2019 are at Intu’s Lakeside in Essex, Metrocentre in Gateshead, Norwich and Nottingham schemes.
In a statement, Sports Direct – which took over House of Fraser in August amid a pre-pack administration deal – said it had “various meetings” with Intu and “adopted a flexible approach”. “Despite our best efforts we have been unable to agree reasonable terms for these stores to continue trading,” the retail company said. Sports Direct confirmed that affected House of Fraser staff will now enter a consultation period but would not confirm if staff would be given opportunities to relocate elsewhere in the company, nor how many job losses the consultation could result in.
Last month, House of Fraser confirmed that its flagship Kendals Store in Manchester is due to cease trading, following news that stores in Exeter and Shrewsbury are also due to close in early 2019, leading to hundreds of job losses. House of Frasers in Cirencester, Hull, Swindon, Edinburgh, and Chichester are also closing down and reports indicate that the retailer’s City of London store could also face closure in January. To date, 22 House of Fraser stores have been saved from closure, saving an estimated 3500 jobs.
