Debenhams brings back ‘prominent fashion brand’ after going bust in 2020

DEBENHAMS has brought back a popular fashion brand after four years and you can buy all your old favourites.

The beloved chain is once again selling Quiz clothing online after stopping when it fell into administration back in 2020.

Quiz has now relaunched online at Debenhams, with over 600 items from the fashion retailer available on the latter’s website.

The brand said it was previously “one of the most prominent fashion brands” in the Debenhams portfolio before it collapsed.

It comes as Debenhams is beginning to introduce new fashion, beauty and home brands to its marketplace after being bought by Boohoo.

The chain told Retail Week that the new partnership will expand its fancy clothing ranges, “providing an expanded selection of dressy and occasion products to a wider audience”.

We had a look online and found that prices start at £12.99 for items such as fascinators and go all the way up to £140 for formal dresses.

Quiz head of e-commerce Haroun Saleemi told the title: “Quiz has always been present on the international Debenhams site, but this relaunch marks a new chapter with new ownership on the UK platform.”

They continued to say that its range of casual and dressy items caters to Debenhams customers.

Haroun added: “As an omnichannel retailer, online is an important part of our strategy and our partners in this space allow us to reach a wider customer base, which works alongside our own website as well as our standalone stores and concessions.”

Quiz currently has over 250 stores and concessions, according to its website and is available to buy online at other retailers like New Look, Next and Very.co.uk.

Prior to Debenhams falling into administration in April 2020, Quiz was one of its top-selling brands both in-store and online.

Debenhams left the high street for good in 2021 after struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The historic high street chain suffered slumping sales and fell into administration within weeks of the virus hitting the UK.

Online retailer Boohoo bought the website and brand – but the deal excluded all 118 remaining UK stores and 12,000 Debenhams jobs.

But shoppers can still shop a whole host of fashion, homeware, make-up and fragrances on the Debenhams website.

Since then the retailer has been building up the number of brands it sells which includes Phase Eight, Pretty Little Thing and Boohoo.

You can now once again browse the Quiz range at Debenhams.com.

What happened to Debenhams?

In April 2019 Debenhams first went into administration, wiping out equity investors – including Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct.

The move saw 50 stores shut permanently, as well as rents reduced across dozens of other branches.

While the business continued to trade it was forced to shut several stores along the way.

The retailer then fell into administration for the second time in April 2020.

It was at this time the popular high street store announced it would be closing seven UK stores and cutting 422 jobs.

At this time Debenhams UK store were closed in line with government guidance following the coronavirus outbreak.

But the retailer said it would “work to re-open and trade as many stores as possible” when restrictions were lifted.

However, its Irish business, which was made up of 11 stores and employed around 1,400 staff ceased trading.

The retailer staggered the closure of its branches and announced the first round.

Then in an announcement on April 9, 2020, Debenhams revealed its 11 Republic of Ireland branches won’t reopen when lockdown restrictions lifted.

Following these closures, Debenhams went on to announce another seven closures on April 17.

On April 25, the department chain announced another four stores would be closing down for good.

It announced the closure of its flagship Oxford Street shop in January 2021.

Customers were able to take advantage of some big discounts with prices slashed by up to 80% in the closing down sales.

On May 15, 2021, all Debenhams stores closed for good.

The Debenhams brand and website were snapped up by Boohoo for £55million back in January 2021, the fast fashion giant then relaunched the website as Debenhams.com in April that year.

What other retailers have made a comeback?

It has been a tough time for retailers since Covid and the last few years have seen many vanish from our high streets.

The rising cost of living and expensive rents have all been playing a part in the demise of some of our much-loved high street names.

April saw the return of the beloved record chain Our Price.

The record store was once a staple of the UK high street from the early 1970s until 2004.

The first store was on London‘s Finchley Road, and the brand had as many as 300 branches at its peak, making it one of the biggest music store chains in the UK.

Earlier this year, Our Price revealed it would be making a return as music lovers will once again be able to buy thousands of vinyls and other merch.

Shoppers can browse the catalogue online for now only, owners have not ruled out the return to physical stores at some point in the future.

Toys R Us is also among those who’ve managed to make a comeback.

The popular toy brand opened up nine new shops in 2023 after vanishing from the high street in 2018.

However, the new stores are slightly different as they are “shop-in-shops” and are located inside WHSmith stores.

Last year much-loved retailer Wilko fell into administration and closed all of its shops, leaving Brits heartbroken.

However, a glimmer of hope was given when the brand name was scooped up by The Range, in a £5million deal – meaning the name would live on.

Customers were overjoyed after learning the store was being relaunched online, and even more so when in a surprising turn of events, physical branches started to open up again.

Locations have since popped up Plymouth, Exeter, Luton, St Albans and Rotherham.

In October last year, Paperchase also made a return after closing all of its 134 shops and concessions earlier in the year.

Fans of the brand were devastated when the retailer disappeared from the high street in April after falling into administration.

However, supermarket giant Tesco stepped in and bought the rights to the brand and then went on to launch it in some of its stores.

A total of 261 Tesco stores now stock Paperchase products – we have the full list here.

M&Co, previously called Mackay’s, fell into administration for the second time in two years in December 2022.

Fellow retailer Yours Clothing bought the M&Co brand and intellectual property.

The retailer launched a new M&Co website in June 2023 and The Sun exclusively revealed its plans to open up physical stores starting in May 2024.

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