Where department store is growing in the UK
1,393 department store outlets across 9 brands are in the h3hex Data Store in the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables Glasgow City has the most, with 20; the top 25 local areas together hold 315 (23% of outlets with a mapped local area). The largest like-for-like net gain since the previous release is in Camden (+1).
Outlet and brand counts are the Data Store's: every brand on sale, with every outlet in its file. The local-area and growth tables count the trading outlets in h3hex's master dataset that map to a local area, so their totals can be lower.
Which local areas have the most department store outlets?
| # | Local area | Outlets | Brands present | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glasgow City | 20 | 5: Argos, Flannels, Harrods, House of Fraser, John Lewis | - |
| 2 | Birmingham | 19 | 5: Argos, Flannels, Harvey Nichols, House of Fraser, Selfridges | 0.2 |
| 3 | Leeds | 19 | 4: Argos, Flannels, Harvey Nichols, John Lewis | 0.2 |
| 4 | City of Edinburgh | 18 | 5: Argos, Flannels, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, John Lewis | - |
| 5 | County Durham | 14 | 1: Argos | 0.3 |
| 6 | Camden | 13 | 1: Argos | 0.6 |
| 7 | Westminster | 13 | 5: Argos, Flannels, John Lewis, Liberty, Selfridges | 0.6 |
| 8 | Bromley | 12 | 1: Argos | 0.4 |
| 9 | Buckinghamshire | 12 | 3: Argos, House of Fraser, John Lewis | 0.2 |
| 10 | Cornwall | 12 | 1: Argos | 0.2 |
| 11 | Lambeth | 12 | 1: Argos | 0.4 |
| 12 | Manchester | 12 | 4: Argos, Flannels, Harvey Nichols, House of Fraser | 0.2 |
| 13 | Sheffield | 12 | 3: Argos, Flannels, House of Fraser | 0.2 |
| 14 | Southwark | 12 | 1: Argos | 0.4 |
| 15 | Barnet | 11 | 3: Argos, Fenwick, John Lewis | 0.3 |
| 16 | Bristol, City of | 11 | 2: Argos, Harvey Nichols | 0.2 |
| 17 | Greenwich | 11 | 1: Argos | 0.4 |
| 18 | Hammersmith and Fulham | 11 | 2: Argos, John Lewis | 0.6 |
| 19 | ONS area E06000065 | 11 | 1: Argos | 0.2 |
| 20 | Cheshire West and Chester | 10 | 3: Argos, Flannels, Harrods | 0.3 |
| 21 | Croydon | 10 | 2: Argos, House of Fraser | 0.2 |
| 22 | Derby | 10 | 3: Argos, Flannels, House of Fraser | 0.4 |
| 23 | Haringey | 10 | 1: Argos | 0.4 |
| 24 | Islington | 10 | 1: Argos | 0.4 |
| 25 | Kingston upon Thames | 10 | 4: Argos, Fenwick, Flannels, John Lewis | 0.6 |
Local areas are local authority districts. Brands present shows how many brands have an outlet there and the five with the most.
Which local areas added the most department store outlets?
| # | Local area | Net change | Previous release | This release | All outlets now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camden | +1 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
| 2 | Hammersmith and Fulham | +1 | 10 | 11 | 11 |
| 3 | Lewisham | +1 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
| 4 | Sefton | +1 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 5 | Wirral | +1 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| 6 | Sunderland | +1 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | Tameside | +1 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 8 | Glasgow City | 0 | 17 | 17 | 20 |
| 9 | Birmingham | 0 | 16 | 16 | 19 |
| 10 | Leeds | 0 | 17 | 17 | 19 |
| 11 | City of Edinburgh | 0 | 15 | 15 | 18 |
| 12 | County Durham | 0 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| 13 | Westminster | 0 | 11 | 11 | 13 |
| 14 | Cornwall | 0 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| 15 | Buckinghamshire | 0 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
Net change in outlets for brands present in both releases, for local areas with at least 5 outlets in the sector. 5 brands in this sector first appear in this release and are left out of the growth table, so that adding a brand to the data is never counted as an area growing.
How these figures are made
Counts are h3hex's own store-by-store record of each brand's published UK locations for the brands listed in the Department Store sector of the h3hex data store, November 2026 release (scrape window 30 Oct - 3 Nov 2026), page built 2026-11-12. Closed, pre-opening and head-office records are left out. 10 outlets with no mappable postcode are counted in the totals but not in the local-area tables. 4 districts created in 2023 are shown by their ONS code because the postcode lookup used here carries no name for them. Net change compares this release with the 29 October 2026 edition of the same dataset and reflects openings and closures as well as improved coverage of each brand's own locator. Resident population is Census 2021 usual-resident population by output area, summed to local authority district through the ONS postcode-to-output-area lookup (May 2024). The population table does not join to the lookup for districts in Northern Ireland and Scotland, so outlets per 10,000 residents is shown as - for them.
Use the data
Prospect site reports assess a single address against these brands, and the data store sells the department store store lists brand by brand or as a sector bundle.
How many department store outlets are there in the UK?
h3hex tracks 1,393 branded department store outlets from 9 brands in the UK as at the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables, Glasgow City has the most, with 20.
Which department store brands are growing?
Between the previous release and the November 2026 release, the brand adding the most outlets was Argos (+11).
Which department store brands have the most UK outlets?
Argos (1,232), Flannels (75) and John Lewis (36), as at the November 2026 release.