Co-operative Department Stores

[arcsmember]

There seem to be fewer and fewer of these around. Department store shopping, according to some people, has had its day. The profitable remainder of the old United and Group portfolio are being run by Anglia under the Westgate brand.

Plymouth have recently sold all Derrys stores to Vergo Retail Ltd (so my imagined idea of Westgate as a nationwide co-operative department store chain seems to be down the pan then).

We now hear that Principles - a major concession player in many Westgate stores - has gone into administration. This will surely have some knock on effects where they are running within Westgate department stores.

Anglia have done a rebrand on one department store to emphasise a move away from clothing and towards the home - Upholstery, Dining, Beds and Bedroom furniture, Textiles, Cookshop, Giftware and Electrical - so no toys or clothes. Maybe this new "Co-op Home Store" in Hartlepool will become more common.

Do we need co-operative department stores? Can they survive in current times? Is it time to cut loses and run? (Derrys lost over £1m in the last year) Is the whole sector on the way out?

Any thoughts.....

[dcorking]

Maybe this new "Co-op Home Store" in Hartlepool will become more common.

Anglia already has about nine home stores, called AHF, often in retail parks.

Do we need co-operative department stores?

As far as I can see (it is hard to measure) more and more non-food retailers are attracted to goods made by low wage and arguably slave labour overseas, with absolutely no disclosure on the label. So, now, more than ever, there is a social need for a co-operative difference.

Can they survive in current times?

Sainsbury's, ASDA, and Tesco seem unafraid to stock lots of non-food items. Last time I looked, North Eastern and Cumbrian Co-op (part of Group) stocked plenty of non-food in its supermarkets, even in the tiny Seahouses store. How do they do it? Can Anglia and Group learn from any of these? I really hope that the lesson from Plymco and Woolworth's is to do better, not to leave the non-food sector to the investor-owned chains.

[joeturner]

From the outside it appears that many of the regional co-operatives would need significant investment to overhaul their department stores. Clearly there is a market for department stores, but too often the co-ops are running shabby stores filled with things nobody really wants.

Just my opinion, you'll understand..

[arcsmember]

Anglia already has about nine home stores, called AHF, often in retail parks.

AHF (Anglia Home Furnishings) stores are furniture stores. They are the largest independent home furnishings retailer in East Anglia. They've been on the go a while and are well known in the areas they serve.

The Co-op Home Store (Hartlepool) is a new venture, converting a department store to a new brand without fashions or toys, but focusing on textiles and electrical in addition to furniture.
http://www.arcs.co.uk/main_westgate.asp ... hartlepool

The Home Store is a rebrand of a department store - crucially it's not an out of town superstore, it's department store shopping with essentially a renewed focus on furnishings and away from fashions.

I think I've got this all right. (If I didn't know much about Anglia I'd have chosen a different username!!)

With their solid base in furniture retail, the launch of co-opfurniture.com and the running of their non-food buying service for many of the regionals, Anglia are best placed to take a nationwide Co-Op department store brand forward, if such a thing should be preferable to exist.

[arcsmember]

From the outside it appears that many of the regional co-operatives would need significant investment to overhaul their department stores. Clearly there is a market for department stores, but too often the co-ops are running shabby stores filled with things nobody really wants.

Just my opinion, you'll understand..

I think this is a pretty fair opinion, overall.

If you're passing Peterborough any time soon, I'd pop in to the refitted redesigned Westgate House and see what you think. Most overhauled rebranded Westgates seem to be on the right track (but I'm biased).

[MJR]

If you're passing Peterborough any time soon, I'd pop in to the refitted redesigned Westgate House and see what you think. Most overhauled rebranded Westgates seem to be on the right track (but I'm biased).

Has it been announced when the other stores will be overhauled? I was in King's Lynn last week and there was no sign of a change from the 80s brown and cream (the 90s white-on-blue W completely passed it by). No sign of many customers on a Monday morning either, and it's in an awkward location, facing a soon-to-be-demolished Sainsburys (they're off to join Tesco in one of the edge-of-town big box zones) and an empty unit, just around the corner from a closed main town Post Office, closed Woolworths and closed Adams. The co-operative travel seemed to have been shoe-horned in, but I feared for the poor store a bit.

[dcorking]

arcsmember: I see now the distinction you intended.

Smaller autonomous co-ops have department stores (as opposed to retail park stores with only 1 or 2 non-food departments.) I have read that Penrith has invested heavily in refurbishing its department store, Number 19, in the last few months.

I guess my stance is that non-food, especially fashion, is particularly important for the movement, for the reasons of fair trade that I mentioned. I don't mind if the clothing is sold in a food store, a brownfield retail park (with good bike paths and public transport), a traditional town centre department store, or an independent worker co-operative like Bishopstone.

I have read that co-operatives were once the leading form of department store, and colloquially called 'The Stores' up and down the UK. Although times have changed, in this part of the world a family-owned chain called Knee's is surprisingly packed every week, and seems to my eye, in range, layout, location and decor, very similar to a Stores of 30 years ago, such as the only department store in the town where I grew up.

[arcsmember]

Has it been announced when the other stores will be overhauled? I was in King's Lynn last week and there was no sign of a change from the 80s brown and cream (the 90s white-on-blue W completely passed it by). No sign of many customers on a Monday morning either, and it's in an awkward location, facing a soon-to-be-demolished Sainsburys (they're off to join Tesco in one of the edge-of-town big box zones) and an empty unit, just around the corner from a closed main town Post Office, closed Woolworths and closed Adams. The co-operative travel seemed to have been shoe-horned in, but I feared for the poor store a bit.

I've never really been sure on why Kings Lynn seems to stand alone of having missed the 90's rebranding which is already being replaced in a number of stores. It was at least very busy just before Christmas (whilst I was in there many customers seemed to be bemoaning that most other KL stores were just full of "tat" - don't know how true this is). I find that particular area of KL quite depressing now. As I'm generally there changing buses the location suits me, but whilst they are the best toy shop in the town and have the largest range of slippers I've ever seen in my life, I do worry about that area of town now. With Sainsbury going, who knows.

The new management are pretty sharp on closing or changing unprofitable stores - a couple of Rainbow stores went soon after they came in and one modern and rebranded ex-group Westgate has already closed. They don't try to keep dead horses going, so the fact it is still there must mean it was at least profitable in the recent past. Let's hope it still is now.

[dcorking]

one modern and re-branded ex-group Westgate has already closed.

Do you mean Berwick-upon-Tweed? I think the only department store in town is standing empty now: it was re-branded by Anglia and then closed within a year. I have fond memories, but the building is more or less 1960s vintage, so would take a lot of work to provide a modern shopping experience.

[arcsmember]

I was actually thinking of Leighton Buzzard but Berwick is another example of a rebranded but now closed Westgate.