The public view on how the demise of the large department stores will affect towns, what went wrong and who was to blame
Debenhams may have been far from its heyday for some time, but the closure of its large department stores will still hit towns, cities and shopping malls around the country. By Saturday night, more than 160 Debenhams stores will have closed in the past two years, adding to a smaller number of closures by rivals House of Fraser and John Lewis and the collapse of the 22-strong Beales chain.
Shoppers and staff told the Guardian how they thought the closures would hit their towns, what went wrong and who was to blame.
