Darlington’s High Street; The Impact of House of Fraser
How will the closure of House of Fraser impact Darlington?
With the swiftly approaching final closing date, in what way will the loss of such a key store change Darlington?
The retail chain House of Fraser, which inhabits the former Binns store, announced in September that it would be closing its doors for good in November of this year due to the landlord’s decision to terminate the lease of the building.
After being in the town for over a century the loss of such an important store will cause irreparable damage to the local community. With the already prominent decline in High Street shopping within Darlington, the fear for many is that the closure of House of Fraser is going to reduce the appeal for high street shopping even further therefore creating a ‘knock on effect’ on other high street shops and small businesses within the town.
One member of the local community, Lizzie Brown said “House of Fraser attracted people to the town; without it Darlington will succumb to the fate of many towns who have lost the ever so important appeal to high street shoppers.”
However, this landmark decision will not only affect shoppers, it will also impact the many staff who will face uncertainty over their jobs in the run up to Christmas this year.
This store is the last House of Fraser in the North-East, after the closing of the Gateshead Store back in September 2021, leaving the nearest store to now be in Manchester, causing a lack of access to some designer brands.
The department store houses many different designer brands such as Mac and Benefit, both cosmetic brands, and clothing brands like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. Not only this but the shop also has a Game store on the lower ground floor and a cafe, all of which the town will lose.
This store was a favourite for all within the town due to its extensive range of goods. It was so easy to get immersed when browsing all the clothes, shoes, bags and cosmetic products it has to offer. As a result of this often people found they could easily lose track of time within the store spending sometimes over an hour easily browsing the products.
So what will happen to the building? There have been “talks” between the new owner of the Binns building and House of Fraser with the potential that the store may be able to remain where it is and not have to permanently close its doors. This is a result the people of the town can only hope becomes a reality.
