Swindon's vacant Debenhams store to become a warehousing facility

Swindon’s former Debenhams department store is to become a storage hub to meet the demands of last-mile delivery and warehousing in the rapidly changing world of modern retail.

The change comes after Swindon Council planners gave an application by inner-city self-storage operator StoreAway the go-ahead.

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Planners heard that the 200,000 sq. ft former retail unit had been marketed continually since its closure in 2020, but that there had been no interest.

McBeth Design, on behalf of the applicants, said: "This lack of interest is likely due to the fact that department stores don't really fit into modern-day retail trends, as in the past, with the public less interested shopping in large-scale inner city footprints with smaller floor spaces and flexible leases being more appropriate or shopping on the internet."

However, the planning application also made provision for four retail units at the ground floor 'shop window' end of the building, facing the pedestrianised shopping precinct The Parade.

"The smaller units presented are a more marketable size and could be made affordable for both local and national traders," said the applicants.

The applicants said the conversion would be sustainable as much of the retail space would be repurposed.

However, the change of use won't do much for town centre jobs – just two or three people will be employed in the self-storage site, with three in each of the new smaller retail units.

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The building was constructed in the mid-1960s - Swindon’s post-war boom - and originally housed Bon Marche, with Debenhams occupying later.

Debenhams was a 20th-century success story, but its fortunes started to wain in the new millennium. Devastated by Covid, it finally collapsed into administration in 2021, with the closure of 124 department stores. Debenhams.com is now a brand of online retailer Boohoo.