Debenhams closure 'not surprising', Weymouth Chamber says

Weymouth Chamber of Commerce says the closure of Debenhams in Weymouth would be a sad loss, but unsurprising.

12,000 jobs are at risk after the last potential buyer for Debenhams - which is already in administration - pulled out.

The department store will start a winding down process.

Shops will remain open and you can still order online - but all stores will close if a buyer isn't found.

Craig Oakes, president of the chamber said:

"I'm not particularly surprised really, I've been - even before COVID - looking at the situation with Debenhams and previous to that they had forensic accountants in and they had to cut their stores down.

"It's very sad, obviously we don't want to see people lose their jobs or anything, but I think it's part of an on-going process and coronavirus has only accelerated it, to be honest."

He says it will leave a massive gap if it closes, both physically and in locals thoughts - having been part of the high street for such a long time.

Craig added:

"The writing has been on the wall for things like department stores for quite a while now. They're quite big giants and a lot of the country is going more into an independent way anyway.

"Generally I think those giant stores were going to go anyway.

"It'll be a really sad loss for Weymouth. We've seen a Debenhams here for quite some time, it sort of came and went, came back again, and we've always had that name here.

"It's going to be a loss for a lot of people, I can imagine they'll be very sad about it."

Claudia Web, chief operations officer at Weymouth BID said:

"Our sympathy is with the staff who will lose their jobs. In Weymouth we are lucky that we have a majority of independent shops, with more opening all the time, even through lockdown.

"We need to focus on developing our high street into a successful mix of retail, commercial, residential and leisure."