Sports Direct’s lease of the six-floor Lillywhites store on London’s Piccadilly has reportedly been put on the market.
The 97-year lease of the sports specialist department store, which has traded since 1925, has been put on the market as landlord Criterion Capital conducts rent review talks.
A sale could lead to the removal of the Lillywhites name from the 67,700 sq ft site.
Documents seen by The Guardian that have been sent to potential buyers say rent for the occupier could be as high as £4m a year. Sports Direct is thought to pay less than £1m for the less at present.
The move comes as the Piccadilly area undergoes redevelopment, with a number of high profile sites including the former Tower Records sitting empty. Landlord Criterion is also repurposing the nearby Trocadero.
Lillywhites was once known as the ‘Harrods of sports’, having been founded by the Lillywhite cricketing family in 1863 and at one time the store where Wimbledon contestants were obliged to buy their shorts.
Sports Direct bought the chain and the lease on its Piccadilly site in 2002 from Portuguese retail group Jerónimo Martins.
A potential offloading of the lease comes at a challenging time for department stores. Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley has described department store chain House of Fraser’s problem as “terminal” following his acquisition of the chain last year, and rival Debenhams is set to close more than 20 stores at the beginning of next year after winning approval for a CVA.
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