With some famous old names having departed from UK shopping centres and high streets in recent years it it of note that an equally famous department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof has announced this week that it wants to part with 52 stores across Germany. 

With around 4,000 employees likely to be affected by the closures, which are planned in two waves - a first part in summer 2023, a second in January 2024 this would seem to present a similar challenge for the German market that has been faced here in the UK following the demise of Debenhams, House of Fraser and others.

Back here in the UK we have news today from John Lewis Partnership that it has plunged to a loss of £234 million and admits it could not afford to pay staff their traditional annual bonus.

Off the back of a £181m profit for the year to 31 January 2022 there is clearly work to be done with total sales down 2% on the previous year.

John Lewis have blamed the “economic backdrop and inflationary pressures” for the decline but it's clear that the challenge of remaining relevant to customers in the modern retail environment is no easy win despite the relative lack of competing department stores and the years ahead for the remaining department stores will be interesting to watch.