'End of an era' as doors close at former Rackhams

Shoppers and retail experts have described the closure of House of Fraser in Birmingham as "the end of an era."

The shop's history dates back to 1851, when William Winter Riddell and Henry Wilkinson opened a retail drapery shop on Bull Street.

"What it shows, is that it is difficult for retail. Even where you have brand heritage and you have brands people really do like, then actually it is difficult," professor of Retail Marketing at the University of Birmingham Sarah Montano said.

Often still affectionately known locally as Rackhams, one shopper heading into stores on Corporation Street described it as the reason they "used to come into Birmingham, but not any more".

Another said: "We've been going since we were 15 years old. It's quite bad really, I'm not an online shopper, I like to go and try things on. It's a shame. It ends up like a ghost town.

"It's sad. You could get anything you wanted there, but now everything is online."

The original Rackhams was born in Birmingham, but later owners the Harrods group would go on to adopt the brand name for many other stores in the Midlands and northern England.

The Corporation Street department store was previously set for closure in 2018 after House of Fraser went into administration.

It was one of dozens of stores earmarked to shut, before the chain was bought by Sports Direct for £90m.

Experts said a building of that size would have been "quite expensive to manage".

Montano said: "It's disappointing for that part of the city centre as well. If you think about the new stores opening now, they are all in proximity of the Bullring.

"There is a slight challenge on how do you redevelop a city centre? We know people are looking for variety."

According to the House of Fraser Archive, the original business grew into a wholesale branch on Temple Row in 1863.

John Rackham and William Matthews, who were apprentices for eight years, were promoted to buyers by 1878.

The retail side of the business was transferred to them in 1881 and the seeds of the future thriving brand were sown.

During World War Two, the Bull Street and Temple Row premises suffered a direct hit, destroying about a third of the store.

In 1955, Rackhams was acquired by the Harrods group and then, four years later, Harrods itself was taken over by House of Fraser.

A new Rackhams store on Corporation Street opened in stages between 1960 and 1966 and became one of the city's most popular department stores.

Although it was rebranded as House of Fraser in the 2000s, it remained known locally as Rackhams.

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