Three House of Fraser stores are set to close, said Sports Direct (LON: SPD) tycoon Mike Ashley.
After failing to agree on terms with the store’s landlords, the department stores in Edinburgh, Hull and Swindon will close.
Ashley was understood to be demanding low or even zero in rent, yet called landlords greedy.
“I am disappointed that in my opinion a small number of greedy landlords still refuse to be reasonable,” he said.
After buying House of Fraser in August, Ashley hoped that most of the department stores would remain open.
A fourth store in Bath is also at risk of closure but 20 House of Frasers are to remain open, saving 3,500 jobs.
Some of the stores to remain open are based in Altrincham, Aylesbury, Camberley, Carlisle, Darlington, Doncaster and Plymouth.
The hundreds of staff based at the three closing outlets are to now go through redundancy consultation.
“We’ve shown what we can achieve on the British high street when we work together with landlords,” said Ashley.
“I would like to thank those landlords who have helped us to rescue approximately 3,500 jobs at the stores we have saved to date.”
“I am calling on everybody to pull together, including landlords and local authorities in order to help to save as many House of Fraser stores and jobs as possible on the great British high street,” he added.
Chief executive of the British Property Federation, which represents landlords, said: “What has been taking place is negotiations between House of Fraser and its landlords – a two-party process – where each party will have its own interests and one party simply can’t cry ‘unfair’ in the media when it doesn’t get what it wants.”
“There will be a range of factors to consider on a store-by-store basis but what property owners won’t be doing is simply leaving stores empty for the sake of it, that would be in no one’s interests.”
