Harvey Nichols’ Birmingham retailer is to shut in January with the lack of no less than 60 jobs, as its proprietor Frasers Group begins reshaping the division retailer chain it purchased out of administration in August.
Workers on the retailer, which opened 25 years in the past, have been knowledgeable this week, based on the style commerce journal Drapers, which first reported the plan. The Leeds and Bristol shops are to be rebranded as Flannels, the posh style chain owned by Frasers.
The way forward for the remaining three UK shops, in Manchester, Edinburgh and on the chain’s Knightsbridge headquarters in London, is unclear.
Mike Ashley, whose Frasers Group additionally owns Sports activities Direct, beforehand stated he would hold the Knightsbridge and Edinburgh shops however rebrand the 4 others, in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Bristol, as Home of Fraser or Flannels.
Frasers paid £43m for Harvey Nichols on the day the chain was put into administration in mid-August. The deal saved six UK shops and about 1,000 of the group’s 1,200 jobs. The Oxo Tower restaurant in London was offered to a separate purchaser, saving an extra 130 jobs.
A seventh retailer, in Dublin, was closed by directors in September. Outdoors the UK, the Harvey Nichols title additionally trades in Riyadh, Dubai, Doha and Kuwait, and at two shops in Hong Kong.
When it purchased the enterprise, Frasers stated it will evaluate and “rationalise” the shop portfolio, organisational construction, working mannequin and price base.
Michael Murray, the Frasers chief govt, stated on the time: “The turnaround would require powerful decisions, and we’re ready to make these selections, even when which means a smaller enterprise within the close to time period, to create a stronger and extra sustainable Harvey Nichols for the long run.”
The closure follows the publication of filings setting out the place of the chain’s collectors. Firms Home paperwork present that the primary buying and selling entity, Harvey Nichols and Firm, went into administration owing £270.5m to unsecured collectors, with the directors, FTI Consulting, estimating that not more than 15 per cent could be returned.
The manufacturers owed cash embrace Canada Goose and Victoria Beckham.
Frasers has been constructing its pursuits in luxurious style by Flannels and thru giant stakes in manufacturers equivalent to Mulberry, the British purse maker.
In a latest assertion concerning the group’s luxurious division, Murray stated: “Our ambition is evident: to proceed scaling Frasers Group Luxurious globally by natural growth, acquisitions and strategic investments, creating long-term worth for our model companions, prospects and the group.”
The group has additionally lifted its stake in Hugo Boss to 48 per cent, simply in need of management of the German label. The Hugo Boss managing and supervisory boards really useful on 9 July that shareholders reject the Frasers takeover supply, saying the worth was “insufficient from a monetary perspective”.
Ashley, who began out with a single sports activities store, has purchased a sequence of struggling premium manufacturers in recent times. Frasers purchased Home of Fraser out of administration in 2018 and has since closed about 40 of that chain’s 60 shops.
Amy Ingham
Amy Ingham is a reporter at Enterprise Issues, masking UK enterprise information with a concentrate on breaking information, enterprise coverage, late funds and insolvency. She joined the journal in 2026 after finishing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow Faculty’s journalism college. Her latest reporting contains British Metal’s nationalisation and its affect on SME suppliers, the decline in late funds by giant companies, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Attain her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.
