Bournemouth’s House of Fraser to close its store

Bournemouth Town Centre is to lose its biggest department store after House of Fraser announced it would be closing.

The towns department store is expected to close in March and follows the previous closure of Beales, Debenhams and Marks & Spencers.

The closure is the third of Bournemouth’s department stores to be removed from the retail site this year with the following announcement of stores New Look and Wilko’s closure too.

Former store assistant, who does not wish to be named, claims it was inevitable and expected to happen.

“It is a shame I think, there were nice staff working there before I had left.

“With the closing of Bournemouth’s House of Fraser, this could mean other shops are likely to follow soon as we’ve already seen some closures of big retail stores already.

“When I was working there, the store had a low footfall meaning the number of people entering the store was quite low and fewer people were shopping at the store. Therefore the store closing down was likely to happen.”

House of Fraser is a British department store group with 44 locations in the United Kingdom.

Bournemouth’s House of Fraser store has existed for over 150 years and originated as Bright’s in 1871. It had its first-ever appearance in Bournemouth in 1974.

The removal of the long-lived department store will mean local shoppers may be affected and with its longevity in the town, some long-term shoppers may be devastated by its announced departure.