Bad news for both Tooting’s regeneration and Alan Winstanley. The former is to lose independent department store Morleys from its high street, set to close the doors on 30 April. The site, the largest lifestyle store in Tooting, is shuttering as part of a trading review.

Meanwhile, Winstanley’s fist job after taking up the Morleys’ CEO post at the start of the month will be to oversee the store’s demise after 70 years of trading.

Morleys said the site needed a significant update for retail use and that it couldn’t justify the investment needed.

The 38,200 sq ft property on Mitcham Road in South London has been sold to a development company, which has plans to redevelop it into a residential and commercial space.

Morleys Group’s seven remaining stores will remain open. These include its signature stores in nearby Brixton and Bexleyheath, Elys in Wimbledon, Pearsons in Enfield, Camp Hopson in Newbury, James Selby in north London and Roomes Fashion and Home in Upminster east London.

The group said it has invested significantly in its estate in recent years, including a £3 million refurbishment to the Brixton store in 2022. In Additionally, last April it opened a new 20,000 sq ft home store in Newbury adjacent to its flagship department store.

The group said it “continues to seek opportunities to expand its portfolio of stores subject to the correct strategic fit”.

Winstanley, a former executive director of Womenswear, Accessories & Beauty for House of Fraser, has just taken over from Nigel Blow who was CEO of Morleys for eight years.

Winstanley returns to the UK having worked as chief merchandise officer at Myer department stores in Melbourne, Australia, for the past eight years where he co-led the retailer’s turnaround.

In its latest set of accounts — covering the year to last January — it showed group profitability broadly in line with the previous year after the business face significant cost pressures that impacted its overall results. 

Its department stores store sales increased by 4.2% although it faced low margins. Trading continued to be challenging across its portfolio and it was reviewing all the cost centres with a view to generating savings.

The company sells fashion, beauty, homewares and toys, offering a mix of premium and middle-market brands such as Barbour, Nobody’s Child, Holland Cooper, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Coach, Levi’s, Rag & Bone, AllSaints, Birkenstock, Ugg, Michael Kors, Kate Spade and more.