Tuesday 29 May 2018 2:55 pm

Number of large department stores in England falls 25 per cent in less than a decade

In a further sign of the ailing UK retail sector, new research has found that the number of large UK department stores in England has fallen by 25 per cent in less than a decade.

According to peer-to-peer property lending platform Lendy, the number of large department stores, which it defines as multi-level stores that have distinct departments, has dropped from 240 in 2009 to just 180 today.

The property group also says that the total number of shops in England has fallen by one per cent to 403,000, down from 407,000 over the same period.

The findings come as major department stores like House of Fraser and Debenhams look to restructure their business.

After issuing a profits warning at the start of the year Debenhams plans to close a number of its stores, while House of Fraser has recently announced plans to launch a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in June.

Meanwhile, property groups are also reconsidering their retail investments, with St Modwen announcing earlier this month that it would be selling off more than a quarter of its retail portfolio.

Liam Brooke, co-founder of Lendy, said: “The falling number of department stores shows they have borne much of the brunt of the shift towards internet shopping.

“Local authorities will have to consider whether they want to make it easier to change the use of department stores to being partly residential as it will be hard to fill these properties with new tenants.

“However, retail property can still be a successful investment as part of a diversified portfolio. As with all property, retail property investors must carefully consider all risks when deciding to invest in certain projects or not.”

Other large format retailers that have struggled in the current economic climate include Marks & Spencer, who have recently announced plans to close over 100 stores.