Softer Ride

As Status Quo so elegantly put it “I ain’t gonna work, I ain’t gonna work no more” and this came true for my sister this week as Debenhams financial woes continued. Having been on furlough since March, she received a letter this week from the administrators, informing her that her employment had been terminated with immediate effect. No notice, no redundancy cheque, just a reference number and web address for her to register with the redundancy service in the hope of a government payout in lieu of notice. It seems that the pandemic has scuppered any slight chances of survival Debenhams might have had after going into administration for the first time eighteen months ago.
To be honest, she only worked a few hours a week and had been thinking of giving up for a while, so not exactly the most devastating news. I feel more sad about the possibility of the store closing. The only shop in the Debenhams estate to still bear its original name (as well as the corporate branding), Browns of Chester has been a local institution for over 200 years. Just about everyone who grew up and went to school in Chester during the 1960s and early 1970s will remember going there to get their school uniform. The record department in the basement was where I bought my first singles and LPs.
Debenhams took over in the mid ‘70s and the old school charm of Browns of Chester was replaced by corporate branding and in store concessions. My sister worked there for quite a few years after losing her job at C&A when that closed down (I’m starting to see a pattern developing here!) but she definitely doesn’t want to go looking for anything else now.
We can only hope that if the company is split up and sold off, someone will decide it might be worth seeing if they can restore Browns of Chester to its former glory as an independent department store. But given the gloomy news surrounding the retail sector generally, I’m not holding my breath.