At least 18 “high street titans” – architecturally significant department stores that have fallen victim to profound changes in shopping patterns – are at risk of being permanently lost, according to a new report.
But these “cathedrals of commerce”, as Émile Zola described them in his 1883 novel The Ladies’ Paradise, should be granted new lives – as art galleries, residential housing, community hubs and social spaces, says Save Britain’s Heritage.
“In a new era when large-scale retail is no longer sustainable, these fine structures are at risk of dilapidation or even demolition … Protecting and reviving these buildings is not only a matter of preserving precious and distinctive architecture; it is an opportunity to restore a sense of place,” says Harriet Lloyd, author of Departing Stores: Emporia at Risk.
The report details 46 landmark department stores in town and city centres. Some have been restored or redeveloped while keeping their architectural heritage, but others are vacant and at risk of decay or demolition.
“The same loss of relevance previously faced by stately homes, warehouses and many churches now threatens a new building type for the first time: the department store,” the report says.
There were 237 vacant department stores in the UK in the middle of 2021, according to the British Retail Consortium and Local Data Company. Nine out of 10 former Debenhams stores were still empty a year after the chain collapsed, and a fifth of former BHS outlets were vacant five years after the company’s demise.
The slow decline of the department store began with the creation of shopping centres and out-of-town retail parks in the second half of the last century. It sharply accelerated with the growth of online shopping, assisted by increases in rents and business rates.
Between 2006 and 2020, online sales grew to almost 20% of UK retail, and rose further to 30% during the past two years of Covid lockdowns and closures. In the first quarter of 2021, overall retail vacancy was at a five-year high of 14.1%.
The report says: “Department stores make up some of the finest and most socially significant buildings on British high streets. Designed to impress and inspire, they are undoubtedly of great architectural merit, and stand as a monument to the historic prosperity of the town.”
Marcus Binney, executive president of Save Britain’s Heritage, said: “There can hardly be a sizeable town in Britain which has not suffered the closure of one department store and sometimes several. The race is on to identify and assess these buildings.”
Developers were also racing to convert these buildings for new uses. More alarming was “the number of cases where owners are seeking to raze their department stores to the ground with the aim of securing lucrative planning permissions for larger new developments”.
Many of the buildings presented significant challenges to conversion, says the report. “Decades of extensions, amalgamations and ad hoc fixes have resulted in labyrinthine interiors of varying levels and ceiling heights, disused staircases and forgotten stockrooms.
“Natural light – an enemy to the retailer – is a necessity for homes, hotels and offices, and cannot reach anything in the centre of the deep floor plates. This can make demolition the most attractive option.”
Among those at risk according to the report is TJ Hughes in Eastbourne, which was completed in 1926 but has been vacant since May 2019. The building features elegant rusticated pilasters, moulded cartouches and bullseye dormer windows.
Plans have now been submitted to demolish the seafront building, and replace it with “a bland apartment block … The irrevocable loss of this detailed and distinctive building would be a real tragedy.”
In Nottingham, a former Griffin & Spalding store is “an iconic feature of the city’s historic centre”. Its stone facade, constructed in 1924, is “embellished with sculpted urns, an elaborate cartouche supported by carved cherubs, and a gallery of coupled columns”.
The store was bought by Debenhams in 1944, and closed in May 2021. “No future plans are forthcoming for this magnificent edifice,” says the report.
But Bobby’s in Bournemouth has been successfully repurposed since it closed as a department store last year. As well as retail space, there is an art gallery, with a food hall and rooftop bar planned. The premises include community spaces, and architectural features are being restored.