Oh no, didn't realist Wiggle and Chain Reaction were also taken over by him. It's actually the takeover of Frasers / Game that makes me fear most for Evan's... They bought our local old defunct Debenhams - four floors, with a cafe. To make it a House of Frasers - little bit of an upgrade I thought from Debenhams. What did we get? We got the top two floors a Sport's Direct, with a Game shoved in the corner... The bottom two floors... they basically kept the makeup hall from Debenhams (all independent concessions anyway I think) and the most half-assed attempt at a mens section, and womens clothing section in the rest of the space. Hardly a grand big department store, quite the downgrade from Debenhams.
He just wanted Sports Direct in some more prime retail. But that's not what scares me most. With Game... they introduced a gaming arena which the standalone store didn't have... seemed good. Went in a few weeks ago with my nephew, nobody at the Game part at all. This was a Saturday afternoon. Single member of staff on the floor, in the Game uniform, at the till with about 3-4 people lining up to buy sports jerseys etc. Couldn't get a moment to check us into the gaming arena. Did find one Sports Direct staff member who tried his best / got us checked in, said we were lucky as he's the only SD guy who knew how to use the Game system. Said he was meant to be on his break too... Sounds like they have zero regard for the non Sport's Direct brands they own. Happy to run them into the ground.
The other SD store other side of town now has an 'Evans Cycle' section. It is the same back corner cycling accessory wall mixed in with camping stuff that was there before with about 3-4 kids / teen bikes (of the heavy, steel variety) in the way on show. The name now resigned to the very opposite end of the spectrum it was once an antidote to :-(
On the plus side, we now have a proper Evans Cycle store in Belfast which we didn't have before... Haven't been in yet but wonder what it's like given its been setup fully in the Mike Ashley era of the brand.