Frasers Group’ boss Michael Murray has announced that House of Fraser could be getting rebranded, after taking the reigns of the business from his retail mogul father-law Mike Ashely.
Mr Murray, who is married to Ashley’s daughter Anna, is set to abandon his father-in-law’s winning formula of selling stock at heavily slashed prices, to shift the Frasers Group upmarket.
The 34-year-old has said that his vision for the retail giant could mean that House of Fraser disappears altogether from the high street.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Murray said that House of Fraser was a ‘broken business’ when it was first acquired.
He added: ‘We’ve completely changed the operating model. It was mostly concession, the stores were way too big, they were under-invested.
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34-year-old Michael Murray has said that his vision for the retail giant could mean that house of Fraser disappears altogether from the high street
‘Our future vision is that House of Fraser will diminish and Frasers will grow.’
Mr Murray’s vision would see House of Fraser no longer operating as a department store, which could be a savvy decision following the collapse of Debenhams and the closure of some John Lewis branches.
More than 20 House of Fraser branches have also been closed down since Mike Asley first snatched up the business from the pits of administration.
New, smaller stores which are simply called ‘Frasers’ have opened in eight locations, with more opening in the pipeline.
Mr Murray is also working towards using existing House of Fraser stores to repurpose them into buildings running multiple businesses which could see Sports Direct on the top floors and Frasers on the lower levels.
Mr Murray said: ‘This allows the landlord to