Mike Ashley’s hopes of turning House of Fraser into the “Harrods of the high street” have been dealt an early blow as sales at the struggling department store crashed in the run-up to Christmas.
Sales at the department store have tumbled by 60% over the 12 weeks to 18 December, according to figures by Kantar Worldpanel, seen by The Telegraph.
Last month Ashley said that November had been “unbelievably bad” with retailers being “smashed to pieces”. The retail tycoon bought the department store for £90m out of administration last August and has since been battling with landlords for rent-free agreements in order to keep the shops open.
