House of Fraser today announced plans to close its Army & Navy department store in Eastbourne at the end of March. The store is one of three earmarked for closure in a strategic review carried out by the group in 1996.
About 70 full-time and part-time jobs will be lost at Eastbourne after the group failed to find a buyer for the store which has traded in the town since the early 1950s. The store was built in 1953 when it was operated by the John Barker group and became part of the House of Fraser group in 1957.
House of Fraser is still looking for a buyer for its High Street store in Sheffield and in September managed to secure jobs at its Binns store in Scunthorpewhich was sold to Upton & Southern Holdings.
The strategic review concluded that the three stores were unlikely to make satisfactory returns as House of Fraser stores. Following the closure of the Eastbourne Army & Navy outlet, House of Fraser will own 51 stores.
More than 750 new jobs will be created with the opening of three new stores, at Reading and Bluewater, Kent, in 1999 and at Solihull in 2000.
PA News 27/01/98
