AN iconic former Debenhams store is set to undergo a huge transformation and will be "brought back to life".
Property giants DBG Group revealed its "ambitious plans" for the old Debenhams building in Hull.
DBG Group confirmed it had "officially exchanged contracts" to snap up the colossal 180,000 sq.ft site in the heart of Hull city centre.
Spanning from Prospect Street to Ferensway, the massive space was a huge hit in the 1990s but has remained empty since May 2021.
It is still very much early days for any redevelopment of the site however the DBG Group have said they are "excited to bring it back to life."
They added: "Our investment marks a significant step in redeveloping this prime space, and we have ambitious plans for its future."
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It remains unclear whether the site will become retail or residential units.
The key details of the planned redevelopment will become clearer after the predicted submission of a planning application to Hull City Council.
Debenhams served the public until May 2020 when the company went into liquidation.
The 242-year-old business was forced to close 124 of its stores across the country after last-ditch efforts to save the retailer failed.
Debenhams was the largest department store group in the UK in the 1950s, with 110 stores.
In 2006 it joined the stock market with a price tag of £1.7bn.
However, the shop has struggled in the last decade with profits plummeting as it struggled to keep up with changes inflicted by Brexit and the pandemic.
In 2021 fast fashion brand Boohoo bought Debenhams out of bankruptcy for £55million but none of its 124 stores.
At the time, Boohoo was enjoying the online boom as bored shoppers spent lockdowns buying outfits from their smartphones and it tapped into rapidly changing social media fashion trends.
However, since Covid restrictions lifted, Boohoo’s share price has collapsed by 90 per cent.
Its sales growth has stalled, losses have soared and it has faced intense competition from rival fast-fashion site Shein.
Daniel Finley, who was only promoted in November from leading the Debenhams division to chief executive of the group, said last month that he wanted to use his turnaround of the former department store business as “a blueprint for the wider turnaround of the group”.
In a major strategy shift, the retailer will go from being driven by its own brands, designing and buying stock in its own warehouse to having a “stock-lite and capital-lite” model.
The shift will mean Debenhams will go up against the likes of strong retail giants Next, which has a booming online marketplace, Marks & Spencer, which is rapidly adding third-party fashion brands, John Lewis and even Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group.
It comes as archaeologists uncovered a grisly treasure trove dating back 300 years hidden beneath an abandoned Debenhams.
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The centuries old treasure was found at the former store, located in Gloucester, during its redevelopment.
It lay beside more than 300 skeletons, which were also excavated, and archaeologists say the area used to be the north-eastern quadrant of a Roman town.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko to name a few.
What's increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.