More tears for the high street. Boohoo is buying Debenhams. Or at least the bits it wants. Obviously not the 124 department stores: a retail concept wrong on many levels in this Amazon age. And not the 12,000 staff. No, for its £55 million the Leicester sweatshop aficionados will just have the website and its 300 million visits a year, thank you very much. And screw the rest.
Asos, another online retailer, is in “exclusive” talks to buy some of the brands of Sir Philip “Effing” Green’s Arcadia group. For £300 million, Asos plans to carry off Topshop: a business it thinks will be much more Top without the shops. Ditto Topman and Miss Selfridge.
Can you spot the theme here? Even Boris Johnson couldn’t
