Uncertainty continues to surround huge empty shopping units in Wales’ three biggest cities - a year after Debenhams closed its stores for the final time. The retail giant shut its doors in Newport’s Friars Walk Shopping Centre on May 4 last year, and did the same 11 days later on May 15 in Cardiff’s St David’s Shopping Centre and at the Quadrant in the heart of Swansea.
This was just a few months after the company announced that attempts to rescue its 124 stores had failed and that the department store, which had been trading for 242 years, would cease trading. To get the latest WalesOnline newsletters e-mailed to you directly for free, click here.
In January 2021 the firm was sold to online retailer Boohoo in a £55m deal, but that still resulted in the closure of all its stores and the loss of thousands of jobs. As well as the tremor the collapse of Debenhams caused in the job market and on the high street itself, what has become of the large units left empty by the company’s collapse?
