Debenhams closure marks 'grim day' for retail in NI

The closure of Debenhams on the heels of the Arcadia Group going into administration has been described as one of the worst days for retail.

It is expected 12,000 staff will lose their jobs UK-wide after the failure of efforts to save the retailer.

Debenhams employs hundreds of people across five stores in Northern Ireland.

Belfast Chamber said Belfast city centre had been dealt a "hammer blow". Retail NI urged the Stormont Executive to step in to save the high street.

Debenhams also has stores in Ballymena, Craigavon, Newry and Londonderry.

Staff were told on Tuesday morning.

Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI, said: "It's probably the grimmest couple of days we have had in the retail sector in a long, long time.

"This [closure] will do huge and systemic change and damage to our high streets and what we need to focus on is how can we move this forward.

"My real fear is that we will now see a domino effect of retailer and after retailer closing and that process will be extremely hard to reverse."

Mr Roberts told BBC Radio Foyle that town and city centres will need to be "reimagined" post-pandemic to become places not just for retail but also for socialising, culture, health, creativity and learning.

Simon Hamilton, chief executive of the Belfast Chamber, said it was "devastating" for workers.

He added: "The closure of Debenhams and the threat to stores like Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton is a huge hammer blow to Belfast city centre.

"Our city has faced huge challenges in the past. This is perhaps one of the biggest ever.

"Our city can overcome even this and bounce back stronger. However, it will require ministers to step up and support Belfast."

Aodhán Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said the closure would put other stores, and jobs, at risk.

"This is not only worrying news for Debenhams employees who are in our thoughts at this hard time, but also for the centres for which Debenhams is an anchor tenant and footfall driver," he said.

"Debenhams have been a stalwart of the high street across Northern Ireland for decades and have left an indelible mark on the lives of the people that have worked there and shopped there."

Trade unions have urged for a recovery plan for the sector, which faces the loss of tens of thousands more jobs.

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers said staff should be treated with "fairness and dignity".

General secretary Paddy Lillis added: "Each one of those job losses is a personal tragedy for the individual worker and store closures are scarring our high streets and communities.

"What retail needs is a joined up strategy of unions, employers and government working together to develop a recovery plan."