Monday’s news that BHS has collapsed into administration is undoubtedly a sad situation but the decline of this once proud high street stalwart had an inevitability about it.
For a long time it has seemed more a case of when it would go under, than if. That said, the loss to the UK high street is enormous.
The BHS name sits alongside M&S and John Lewis as the most recognisable and historic retail brands of the past several decades.
The company’s collapse into administration means that 11,000 jobs now hang in the balance.
The group has nine stores in Scotland – including outlets in Dundee’s Wellgate, Kirkcaldy High Street and in Falkirk and Stirling – and the future for the staff looks bleak.
If Duff & Phelps can find a buyer for the group – and I’d suggest that is a huge task given the wider commercial environment right now – then some of those jobs may eventually be saved.
At best, the collapse into administration is a line in the sand for BHS.
It will never be the same retail force it once was and, if it is granted a reprieve by a new investor, it will not have a workforce running into the tens of thousands ever again.
Think of it this way. BHS is an enormous, creaking oil tanker in an ocean of smaller, more nimble vessels. There is no quick and easy way to turn it around.
If there was, do you seriously think that Sir Philip Green would have sanctioned a sale of the group for £1 last year?
Let’s look at the main issues: BHS is encumbered by a large, expensive and dated retail estate.
Its customer base is loyal but dwindling. Its appeal to a new younger generation is limited. It has a massive deficit in its pension scheme.
And to top it off, it cannot raise the cash to pay its creditors let alone overhaul its technology platforms, invest in its retail offering and market itself to a new audience.
Dominic Chappell, the man who headed up Retail Acquisitions Limited (RAL), which took over BHS from Sir Philip’s Arcadia Group just 13 months ago, said no one was to blame for the company’s collapse.
I don’t agree with that.
If, as Mr Chappell suggests, the pensions black hole and bad trading are at the root of the problem then his board have to take at least some responsibility as those issues were alive on the day RAL took control.
Those who went before may also have questions to answer about how the company was managed.
But that is for another day. Now, is about the staff and the loss of a UK retail icon.