Birmingham’s flagship House of Fraser closed yesterday, leaving a gaping hole in the city’s high street. The huge store, which spans around 465,000 sq ft over eight floors, has served Birmingham since the 1960s.
However, Frasers Group CEO Michael Murray confirmed all remaining House of Fraser stores would either convert to Frasers or close in 2023. The retailer has drastically declined on the high street after falling into administration in 2018, when it was purchased by Sports Direct. Closing-down signs were pinned to the outside of the Birmingham shop and the majority of items were slashed by up to 50% for the clearance sale.
The store had been winding down operations over the past few weeks, with only its middle and ground floors functioning, before the entire shop shut on June 25. The Corporation Street site opened in phases between 1960 and 1966, spanning eight storeys with iconic zig-zag glazing to the exterior.
It was initially built between 1955 and 1966 for Harrods, which had acquired Rackhams. But the House of Fraser empire acquired Harrods in 1959, when Hugh Fraser III outbid Debenhams at a time of great expansion for the brand.
Around the same time, Fraser acquired other big names in major UK cities, including this Rackhams store in Birmingham and Kendals in Manchester. In 2003, the site was renamed to House of Fraser, where it remained until present day.
At its peak, House of Fraser operated more than 100 department stores across the UK and Ireland. Following restructurings by owner Frasers Group, the number of stores steadily declined, leaving around 12 standalone stores and a combined total of around 20 Frasers stores.
Sports Direct bought the House of Fraser department store chain for £90million in 2018, just hours after the chain went into administration.
This comes as another blow to Birmingham high street, having lost two major department stores, John Lewis and Debenhams.
