Landmark department stores at risk of being permanently lost, report warns

theguardian.com:

At least 18 “high street titans” – architecturally significant department stores that have fallen victim to profound changes in shopping patterns – are at risk of being permanently lost, according to a new report.

But these “cathedrals of commerce”, as Émile Zola described them in his 1883 novel The Ladies’ Paradise, should be granted new lives – as art galleries, residential housing, community hubs and social spaces, says Save Britain’s Heritage.

“In a new era when large-scale retail is no longer sustainable, these fine structures are at risk of dilapidation or even demolition … Protecting and reviving these buildings is not only a matter of preserving precious and distinctive architecture; it is an opportunity to restore a sense of place,” says Harriet Lloyd, author of Departing Stores: Emporia at Risk.

The report details 46 landmark department stores in town and city centres. Some have been restored or redeveloped while keeping their architectural heritage, but others are vacant and at risk of decay or demolition.

“The same loss of relevance previously faced by stately homes, warehouses and many churches now threatens a new building type for the first time: the department store,” the report says.

There were 237 vacant department stores in the UK in the middle of 2021, according to the British Retail Consortium and Local Data Company. Nine out of 10 former Debenhams stores were still empty a year after the chain collapsed, and a fifth of former BHS outlets were vacant five years after the company’s demise.

The slow decline of the department store began with the creation of shopping centres and out-of-town retail parks in the second half of the last century. It sharply accelerated with the growth of online shopping, assisted