UK department store chain Debenhams is shutting all outlets, administrators for the collapsed group informed, with the loss of around 12,000 jobs. Debenhams, which has long struggled with fierce online competition, will see its brand live on however after British online fashion group Boohoo bought the group's intellectual property assets.

Debenhams collapsed last month, having struggled to adapt from a bricks-and-mortar business long before the coronavirus pandemic forced shoppers online. Stores will reopen following the lifting of the UK lockdown to liquidate stock, administrators FRP Advisory, brought in to salvage parts of the business. Once Debenhams stores are able to reopen and the stock liquidation can continue in stores, the website will be operated by Boohoo.

The closing down sale will continue in stores for several weeks until the stock liquidation is completed and the value of this stock will be retained for creditors. Regrettably, all the UK stores will then be permanently closed, the statement added.

Debenhams, whose history dates back to the late eighteenth century, had hoped to sell some of its 124 stores, whose staff has been paid by the British government's furlough scheme during the pandemic.