A 2006 Farewell for Barkers and Dickins & Jones, London

Dickins & Jones has traded in the Westend since 1803 the long established department store has attracted customers from far and wide offering six levels of quality merchandise. Just a few years ago it became an open secret that the House of Fraser owned store was struggling. No longer seen as a great British style emporium the likes of nearby Liberty’s and Selfridges upped their game with modern re-fits and on the ball buying while Dickins & Jones lagged behind.

This summer it was official Dickins & Jones announced that it would be closing in the New Year – it was a sad time for retailing. Seen as the Granddaddy of department stores Dickins & Jones had a touch of the ‘Are You Being Served’ era that has long gone in today’s shops.

So what next for the renowned Regent Street store? Two property developers have drawn up plans for a series of ground-floor shops with offices and flats above. One such retailer interested in relocating to such a prime site is the toy store Hamleys. Currently a few doors down on the same street relocation would give Hamleys some much-needed extra floor space.

 

Over in South Kensington and it’s a similar story for Barkers. The iconic department store has traded for 135 years and will also be saying a sad farewell this January. Taking its place is US based company Whole Foods, best known in the UK for the upmarket organic store Fresh & Wild, while the upper floors will be re-let to Associated Newspapers.

 

 

John Coleman, Chief Executive of House of Fraser, said:

“We continue to review our portfolio of stores, in some cases taking the difficult decision to close those which do not fit with our mid to long term strategy. At the same time, we are developing the portfolio by adding stores in strategically important locations. We have one of the strongest store-opening programmes and are in the process of acquiring the Beatties Group that would improve our representation in the West Midlands. House of Fraser is extremely grateful to all Barkers staff for their commitment to the store and the group and will be seeking to redeploy staff into other London and South East locations.”

Barkers and Dickins & Jones will now join the ever-growing list of department stores that have closed their doors for the very last time, and while that may sound like a sad notion – one store’s plight could well result in success for another.

Barkers and Dickins & Jones will be closing mid to end of January 2006 Clearance Sales are on until the last day of trading.