That "Broken" Department Store Is Having a Fire Sale on Designer Raincoats (70% Off!)

By HOAR Team 31 July, 2025 5 mins read 279 Views

Listen. I was scrolling through sales this morning and nearly choked on my coffee.

House of Fraser – you know, that chain that's been circling the drain for years – just dropped a massive 70% off clearance on designer raincoats. We're talking Barbour, Ted Baker, Timberland... the works. And honestly? It's kind of heartbreaking watching them liquidate like this, but also... those prices though.

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The Death Spiral Continues

Remember when House of Fraser was actually respectable? Yeah, me neither. Well, maybe back in like 2017 before everything went sideways. The whole mess started in 2018 when they went into administration – basically corporate speak for "we're broke and need help."

Mike Ashley (that Sports Direct guy) swooped in with £90 million and saved about 17,000 jobs. Seemed like a hero move at teh time. But here's the thing about retail rescues – they rarely end well.

Fast forward to 2024 and they've rebranded to "Frasers" because apparently changing your name fixes everything? The CEO Michael Murray literally called it a "broken business" back in 2022. His exact words: "House of Fraser was a broken business when we bought it." Brutal honesty, I'll give him that.

Store Closures Hit Different When You Grew Up Shopping There

They've been shuttering stores left and right. Oxford Street closed. Cardiff, gone. Cheltenham, Nottingham – all toast.

I walked past the Worcester location last month adn saw those depressing "20% off everything" posters. You know a store's dying when they start with the desperate sales. Worcester's closing in September, Nottingham's Victoria Centre store (been there since 1997!) shuts down in October.

Only 23 locations left. Twenty-three! From what used to be everywhere.

But About Those Raincoats...

Okay, back to why I'm actually writing this. The sale is legit massive – hundreds of items still available when I checked their website this morning. We're in that weird season where you definitely need a decent raincoat but don't want to spend £300 on one.

70% off Barbour jackets? That's like finding designer jeans at Primark prices.

The cynic in me knows this is just them clearing inventory before more closures. Murray's vision is pretty clear: "House of Fraser will diminish and Frasers will grow." Translation: we're killing the old brand and starting fresh with smaller stores focused on sports and luxury.

Why This Actually Matters

Look, I'm not crying over another department store chain dying. But there's something genuinely sad about watching these retail dinosaurs disappear. My mum used to drag me to House of Fraser for school clothes. Now it's all online shopping and Amazon deliveries.

The whole "smaller-format lifestyle hubs" thing sounds fancy, but it's really just admitting that traditional department stores are dead. Which... fair enough. When did you last spend an afternoon browsing multiple floors of a department store?

Still, if you need a quality raincoat and don't mind shopping at a zombie retailer, this sale's worth checking out. Just don't expect the store to be there next year.

God, retail is depressing these days.

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