Weekend Interview: Frasers Head of Property James France On Why The Retailer Is Investing Big In Physical Stores This series gets into the heads of the decision-makers of CRE, the people shaping the industry by setting investment strategy, workplace design, diversity initiatives and more. The retail sector can be a little obsessed with disruption and disrupters, but that usually relates to new players from the online and social media worlds. Yet, arguably, a huge disrupter on the UK — and increasingly Ireland’s — high street over recent times has been Frasers Group, the umbrella company for a host of sports, fashion and luxury brands. It is one of the few retailers looking to expand its physical store footprint, while rivals pull back. That multicategory empire now includes department stores Flannels and Frasers, sports specialists Sports Direct and Evans Cycles, fashion brands 18Montrose, Jack Wills and USC, plus Game and Sofa.com. Originally under the auspices of controversial founder Mike Ashley, whose brusque no-nonsense style tended to polarise opinion, son-in-law Michael Murray is now CEO and he has pressed the green button on a dramatic upgrade of the company’s store estate. 
The person charged with that project is Frasers Head of Property James France, with the direction of travel clearly signposted by a series of new city centre flagships under the Frasers and Flannels department store badges and its Sports Direct stores, particularly the jewel in its crown, the multimillion-pound Sports…  Read the full story here. | | |
