Speculation over the bank holiday weekend that BHS stores could return to the UK high street has surprised some industry commentators. 

The last of the department store chain’s 163 stores closed at the weekend, four months after BHS collapsed into administration.

Administrators Duff & Phelps were unable to find a buyer for the chain in the UK but the international business and online operations were snapped up by Doha-based retail group Al Mana.

BHS international stores, which have a more premium look than the British shops, outperformed the retailer’s home operations and so were an attractive proposition for a buyer.

But according to sources from within Al Mana, the company could try to relaunch BHS in the UK, possibly via a franchise partner – an unexpected and not altogether welcome move, say analysts. 

‘Vanity project’

“It’s an interesting development but I personally can’t help but think it’s a bit of a vanity project,” says Kantar Retail analyst Anusha Couttigane. “They should let sleeping dogs lie. Nostalgia doesn’t translate to sales.”

BHS’s recent problems have been headline news for the best part of this year. But would a relaunch under new, unrelated owners work?

“While it’s not unfeasible, Al Mana would have to address the fundamental issues of why the business fell into administration in the first place,” says Retail Week Prospect analyst Rebecca Marks.

“One of BHS’s biggest weaknesses was its slow uptake of omnichannel. Its fulfilment offer wasn’t competitive or convenient, its collections were outdated and therefore overpriced for the offer, and stores required major overhauls.

“While its competition such as Debenhams invested in increasing dwell times with coffee shops and beauty experiences in store, and the likes of Next transformed its store layouts, BHS didn’t improve its window dressing to attract customers into the store in the first place.”

Marks believes that for BHS to relaunch in the UK would require huge investment in technology and its supply chain.

According to reports, any revamp of BHS for the British high street would be on a smaller scale than its previous store estate and would be pitched as a more premium proposition.

However experts were in agreement today that this approach would be unfeasible for a number of reasons.

“Any residual appetite for the brand would be for a bargain basement proposition,” says Couttigane.

However Verdict Retail group research director, Maureen Hinton, suggests it could have trouble finding a place in the market. 

“If BHS aimed to be more upmarket it would just be aiming to be John Lewis,” she says. “And it was always outperformed by M&S anyway.” 

“It’s a middle-market brand name with middle-market associations – to reposition it elsewhere would be very difficult. And the middle market is incredibly competitive.”

Then there’s the continued bad publicity from the ongoing investigations into BHS’s collapse. Former owners Sir Philip Green and Dominic Chappell, to whom the Topshop tycoon sold BHS for £1 last year, have both faced stinging criticism for their handling of the business.

Woolworths example

“It is very hard to revive something that’s gone bust, as Shop Direct found out when it bought Woolworths,” says Hinton. “Relaunching a brand that has gone through a major catastrophe is going to be extremely challenging.”

Despite these negative associations, Hinton points to reputational reasons for keeping BHS alive in the UK.

“Having a few stores in the UK could give greater credibility to the stores they have internationally,” she says. “This move could be more to support international stores than about any big British relaunch.”

Meanwhile it appears that Al Mana is planning to relaunch BHS’s UK website in some form this autumn.

While a widepsread return to high streets is out of the question, we might yet see a limited relaunch of BHS stores, despite experts’ lukewarm reactions.