House of Fraser to launch Frasers concept in Wolverhampton

House of Fraser is set to open the first of its high-end concept stores, Frasers, in the outgoing Debenhams store in Wolverhampton.

As part of his rehabilitation of House of Fraser, Sports Direct's Mike Ashley has revealed up to seven of its stores will be re-imagined as a new upscale concept called Frasers. House of Fraser's Glasgow store already trades under the Frasers brand.

The 94,000sq ft site in the Mander Centre will be vacated by Debenhams in January with Frasers opening later in the year.

In a statement Sports Direct head of elevation Michael Murray said: “We are really proud to have secured this retail destination in the heart of Wolverhampton and look forward to bringing our new elevated multi-brand concept to the Mander Centre in 2020.”

Sports Direct will close the existing Wolverhampton House of Fraser store, formerly known as Beatties. The University of Wolverhampton is bidding for the Beatties store with plans to turn it into student accommodation.

House of Fraser was acquired by Sports Direct in August 2018 in a pre-pack administration deal. Sports Direct has vowed to keep as many of the stores open as possible. However Ashley has admitted that some of the problems with the chain were nothing short of "terminal" in nature.

Despite this he says it remains committed to turning the chain around with anything between 15-30 stores set to receive millions of pounds to be revamped. The Frasers concept is expected to be limited to around seven stores with Belfast and Birmingham said to be among those earmarked for the upmarket make-over.