Debenhams Black Friday 2015: Oxford Street store mobilises 1,000 sales staff to deal with shopping frenzy

The West End store prepares for tomorrow’s discount frenzy with military precision
Longest day: designer Aliza Reger says preparation has been “scientific”
Alex Lentati

Bosses at West End department store Debenhams expect their tills to ring up four times their normal takings on Black Friday tomorrow during a frenzied 15-hour shopping marathon of “organised chaos”.

The late-November discount phenomenon that started off as a largely online event will sweep through central London on an unprecedented scale with queues forming before dawn breaks over Oxford Street. Debenhams managers say the military-style planning for the Black Friday consumer onslaught — now equal in scale to the post-Christmas sales — started in January after the chain was caught by surprise last year.

The flagship store will open at 8am and continue trading until 11pm, an hour later than in 2014, when shoppers desperate to snap up one last bargain had to be marched out of the shop.

General manager Kerry Ely will arrive at 5.30am after a 20-minute walk from her central London flat and will stay until after the last shoppers have left.

Hard at work: staff at Debenhams in Oxford Street, including perfume assistant Kamila Slys, get ready to serve bargain hunters for 15 hours tomorrow
Alex Lentati

Debenhams’ marketing director Richard Cristofoli - who will be in the store from 4.30am - said he was expecting a “celebratory party atmosphere” despite some of the ugly scenes at other stores on Black Friday last year.

He added: “It is the same feeling you get when there is a big iPhone release - that same sense of being part of an event. There certainly won’t be a mercenary dash for a cut price telly.”

Despite the gruelling schedule Ms Ely described Black Friday as “brilliant — it is such a buzz seeing people with these lists going round ticking them off. There is nothing better than opening the doors and greeting people as they come in.”

Discounts will be up to 50 per cent in fashion, electricals and the cookshop, while no VAT will be charged (in effect a 20 per cent discount) in the cosmetics department, where the average saving is £15.

Individual deals include a Jamie Oliver stainless steel three-piece saucepan set, which is halved in price from £123 to £61.50, and a grey striped jumper in the Nine by Savannah Miller range, reduced from £38 to £19.

The store’s 1,000 staff on duty tomorrow will all be equipped with “survival bags”, including an energy drink, sweets and a cereal bar to sustain them during the “longest day”.

They have been getting in the mood with an entire wall painted black in their upstairs rest area and songs with black in the title being played through the sound system, such as Sam Sparro’s Black And Gold.

Dozens of managers who are normally behind the scenes will be on the floors, dressed in black.

Last year two Chanel managers worked through the entire 14-hour day without breaks. They plan to go for the full 15 this year, staving off hunger with sandwiches.

Debenhams Black Friday Deals - in pictures

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Lingerie designer Aliza Reger, whose Debenhams ranges will have discounts of up to 30 per cent, said the planning had been “very scientific”.

She said: “The buying teams have been unbelievable. It has all been done by mathematical analysis, not just ‘let’s chuck a lot of stock out there and see what happens’.”

Window dressers getting ready for the big day
Alex Lentati

Tom Morley, a manager in the cosmetics department, which will be one of the busiest in the 370,000 sq ft store, said: “Last year Black Friday came as a bit of a surprise but this year everything has been really well thought out and planned. Now it’s come, it’s here to stay — I really can’t imagine November without Black Friday now.”

Last-minute preparations will be completed by a team of 40 “elves” working through the night. Their tasks will include pricing and tagging goods so they are ready to be put on display, because one of the day’s biggest challenges will be replenishing fast-vanishing stock.

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