House Of Fraser Meadowhall

[Super Hans]

Yes the plan was for it to be refurbished but now everybody is being made redundant. I actually think Frasers will reopen at some point in the future in Meadowhall, but with none of the current staff involved. They have too many staff that are still there from 10/20/30 years ago which is expensive for Mike Ashley when they are on the old contracts from House Of Fraser, he likes part timers on his own terms.

 

It was always going to happen, the ones who had an ounce of foresight saw the ship sinking, the ones who didn't are still there.

[Luke456]

I have been a customer of House of Fraser since the 90s, mostly for the designer names it has (unlike Debenhams) I checked out this Flanels online and Mike Ashley must know what he is doing. Not sure about paying £250 for a Stone Island top these days in Sheffield, especially as I only go out to the Supermarket!

[small_hall]

For some reason I thought there was a small flannels in MH already ( top floor - close ish to Mark’s and Spencer maybe ??) - just had a look at the Flannels online site ! All I have to say is good luck flogging shoes that are £600 +. 
 

I assume Zara are moving then? Or are they keeping the same store and adding a second one in the store?

[Jaxxman]

House of Fraser Meadowhall is being converted in to 1 of 3 flagship Flannnels stores outside London. Meadowhall is expected to be around 30,000 square feet in size.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/19/mike-ashley-to-defy-odds-with-opening-of-giant-flannels-stores?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

 https://fashionunited.uk/news/retail/flannels-to-open-3-regional-flagships-in-2021-including-liverpool-megastore/2020121852626

[ormester]

There store is quite big at present 

[Silverfox21]

All House of Fraser staff issued with redundancy notices today! 

[BigAl1]

16 hours ago, Silverfox21 said:

All House of Fraser staff issued with redundancy notices today! 

hardly surprising they announced the store was closing a couple of weeks ago 

 

Mike Ashley has impeccable timing

[Hopman]

Would you prefer the grotesque chaos of a business  hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers?

 

I was made redundant at the start of a December and I remember the shock of a local faithful servant being sacked on Christmas Eve. There's no good time to tell people their services were no longer required, but for the victims, it's the start of a new phase in their lives. If you know anyone in this situation, keep in touch and support them, even if it's just a phone call. But above all, don't let them be forgotten.

[BigAl1]

20 hours ago, Hopman said:

Would you prefer the grotesque chaos of a business  hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers?

 

I was made redundant at the start of a December and I remember the shock of a local faithful servant being sacked on Christmas Eve. There's no good time to tell people their services were no longer required, but for the victims, it's the start of a new phase in their lives. If you know anyone in this situation, keep in touch and support them, even if it's just a phone call. But above all, don't let them be forgotten.

whats with the either or? Ashley could easily have waited a couple of weeks or acted a bit quicker a shame he has no interest in the welfare of his employees

 

 

[ECCOnoob]

1 hour ago, Bigal1 said:

whats with the either or? Ashley could easily have waited a couple of weeks or acted a bit quicker a shame he has no interest in the welfare of his employees

 

 

As someone else pointed out, no timing will be ideal for this and it makes sense for a store to get through the busy pre-christmas trading period before taking any necessary action.

 

For those unfortunate employees, some of whom  I hope will at least get another job elsewhere in the business group, the threat of redundancy has been well established for several weeks now. We were even talking about it on this very thread. Upsetting as it may be they knew it was coming.

 

Also can we all just grow up here and stop with this silly "...Ashley did this..."   "....Ashley does that..."   "Ashley doesn't care...."  nonsense.

 

Mike Ashley is the chief executive of a business empire which has dozens of brands, hundreds of branches and thousands of staff.  Can we stop talking about it like he is the owner of a small corner shop who is personally going around sacking his employees.

 

House of Fraser is just one of his many companies which will have its own directors its own corporate structure and dozens and dozens of layers of management. The decision of the practicalities over how, why and when a store  hands out redundancies won't even be anything on his office desk. All Ashley has been involved in is the high-level decision to close a number of branches including the decision to rebrand and repurpose the Meadowhall one. All other practicalities happens way way down the chain.

 

People need to get a reality check here. He's not some pantomime villain. It's business and his is one of the few at the moment which is desperately trying to cling on on trading somehow.

Edited December 26, 2020 by ECCOnoob