Shoppers rush to grab bargains at Debenhams with historic Sheffield store set to close

The 242-year-old retailer is the latest high street casualty after rescue talks by JD Sports fell through, putting 12,000 jobs hanging in the balance.

JD Sport was the last remaining bidder for Debenhams, which has stores at The Moor and in Meadowhall.

This comes after Arcadia Group, which runs 444 shops in the UK collapsed into administration on Monday, prompting administrators for Debenhams - which features Arcadia concessions - to announce the chain to be 'wound down'.

Debenhams also experienced a surge in visits on its website where more than a million shoppers lined up in a huge virtual queue to swoop 70 percent-off fire sale bargains in the final hours.

The stock clearance sale was launched on Wednesday (December 2) at 7am as non-essential retailers in England reopened after a four-week lockdown.

And due to high demand by customers, the website had crashed by mid morning, forcing the retailer to implement a queuing system to keep up with the additional demand.

However, Debenhams said it would continue to trade through its 124 UK stores and online to clear its current and contracted stocks, while the Arcadia Group, which includes brands such as Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton, also said stores would continue to trade.

Debenhams had been in administration since April and now set to enter liquidation, which means it will cease to exist as a company.