{"id":425064,"date":"2024-11-06T17:13:14","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T17:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/?p=425064"},"modified":"2025-08-04T11:56:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T10:56:41","slug":"premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout","title":{"rendered":"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The menswear retailer opened in 1986 as the brainchild of its eponymous owner, with a vision &#8220;to provide the city with high-end fashion within a friendly, inspiring environment&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>It prides itself for being able to spot the emerging designers, having sold the first collections of Alexander McQueen, Helmut Lang, Jean Paul Gaultier and John Galliano. The retailer currently stocks brands including Moncler, Salomon, Canada Goose, Adidas, Snow Peak and Asics.<\/p>\n<p>Frasers Group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/indie-philip-browne-transfers-to-frasers-group-from-jd-sports\">acquired Philip Browne last March<\/a> from JD Sports Fashion, which bought the business from its founder in May 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Drapers understands that the store remains trading currently but is expected to shut down next month.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear what Frasers&#8217; plans are for the retail unit at 3 Guildhall Hill in Norwich city centre. In April, Frasers opened the doors to its new 20,000 sq ft Flannels store in Chantry Place shopping centre nearby.<\/p>\n<p>Frasers has continued to snap up fashion independents this year including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/frasers-group-buys-northampton-independent-thackerays\">Northampton\u2019s Thackerays<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/sunderland-independent-aphrodite-to-close-following-frasers-takeover\">Sunderland\u2019s Aphrodite,\u00a0<\/a>both of which have since closed.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, five-store premium menswear independent John Anthony, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/frasers-group-acquires-premium-indie-john-anthony\">taken over by Frasers Group<\/a> in December, has since closed three of five sites in Southampton, Swindon and Bournemouth.<\/p>\n<p>Premium independent Zee &amp; Co has also closed one of its three branches on London&#8217;s Roman Road following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/frasers-snaps-up-premium-indie-zee-co\">Frasers Group&#8217;s takeover<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about its acquisition strategy and independent shops, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/frasers-cfo-confident-luxury-market-will-bounce-back\">CFO Chris Wootton told Drapers in July<\/a>: \u201cPre-Flannels [which Frasers acquired in 2017], the luxury market in the UK was boutiques. We have become more of a national retailer. That does include acquiring some of these boutiques.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they are in the right locations, I can see more of it happening, but we will take on a case-by-case basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Frasers Group declined to comment on Philip Browne&#8217;s closure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The menswear retailer opened in 1986 as the brainchild of its eponymous owner, with a vision &#8220;to provide the city with high-end fashion within a friendly, inspiring environment&#8221;. It prides itself for being able to spot the emerging designers, having sold the first collections of Alexander McQueen, Helmut Lang, Jean Paul Gaultier and John Galliano. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100233,"featured_media":296000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[973,975,978,962],"tags":[7071,2426,16890],"class_list":["post-425064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-companies","category-house-of-fraser","category-independents","category-news","tag-frasers-group","tag-independents","tag-philip-browne","editorial-frasers-group","editorial-house-of-fraser","editorial-independents","editorial-retailers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Premium menswear independent Philip Browne in Norwich is closing down after 38 years following Frasers Group&#039;s takeover last year, Drapers has learned.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Premium menswear independent Philip Browne in Norwich is closing down after 38 years following Frasers Group&#039;s takeover last year, Drapers has learned.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Drapers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-06T17:13:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-04T10:56:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1334\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zoe Hu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zoe Hu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zoe Hu\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f070417af75e9c387eaa06d721e4cd34\"},\"headline\":\"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-06T17:13:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-04T10:56:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout\"},\"wordCount\":305,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Frasers Group\",\"independents\",\"Philip Browne\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Companies\",\"House of Fraser\",\"Independents\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout\",\"name\":\"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-06T17:13:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-04T10:56:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f070417af75e9c387eaa06d721e4cd34\"},\"description\":\"Premium menswear independent Philip Browne in Norwich is closing down after 38 years following Frasers Group's takeover last year, Drapers has learned.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1334,\"caption\":\"Philip Browne Menswear\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/\",\"name\":\"Drapers\",\"description\":\"Fashion retail industry news, trends and analysis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f070417af75e9c387eaa06d721e4cd34\",\"name\":\"Zoe Hu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/401e1471bc4f78a3af5928829807b229\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccf2598d2abdf6f6832358f21e3a3f7636eb99b3805a74a2893c41d7bb8b22d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccf2598d2abdf6f6832358f21e3a3f7636eb99b3805a74a2893c41d7bb8b22d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zoe Hu\"},\"description\":\"As senior news reporter at Drapers, Zoe has been covering all things fashion retail since August 2022, from breaking industry exclusives to following up important news in the sector. Her specialised areas include retail property, corporate finance, fashion's supply chain and menswear. Email her at zoe.hu@emap.com with any news tips or feedback.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/zoe-hu-562bba196\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/author\/zoe-hu\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout","description":"Premium menswear independent Philip Browne in Norwich is closing down after 38 years following Frasers Group's takeover last year, Drapers has learned.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout","og_description":"Premium menswear independent Philip Browne in Norwich is closing down after 38 years following Frasers Group's takeover last year, Drapers has learned.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout","og_site_name":"Drapers","article_published_time":"2024-11-06T17:13:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-04T10:56:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1334,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zoe Hu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zoe Hu","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout"},"author":{"name":"Zoe Hu","@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f070417af75e9c387eaa06d721e4cd34"},"headline":"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout","datePublished":"2024-11-06T17:13:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-04T10:56:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout"},"wordCount":305,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg","keywords":["Frasers Group","independents","Philip Browne"],"articleSection":["Companies","House of Fraser","Independents","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout","url":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout","name":"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-06T17:13:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-04T10:56:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f070417af75e9c387eaa06d721e4cd34"},"description":"Premium menswear independent Philip Browne in Norwich is closing down after 38 years following Frasers Group's takeover last year, Drapers has learned.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/24114151\/photography-by-Kev-Foster-for-Philip-Browne_PB-Store-2000px.jpg","width":2000,"height":1334,"caption":"Philip Browne Menswear"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/premium-indie-philip-browne-to-close-after-frasers-buyout#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Premium indie Philip Browne to close after Frasers buyout"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/","name":"Drapers","description":"Fashion retail industry news, trends and analysis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f070417af75e9c387eaa06d721e4cd34","name":"Zoe Hu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/401e1471bc4f78a3af5928829807b229","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccf2598d2abdf6f6832358f21e3a3f7636eb99b3805a74a2893c41d7bb8b22d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccf2598d2abdf6f6832358f21e3a3f7636eb99b3805a74a2893c41d7bb8b22d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Zoe Hu"},"description":"As senior news reporter at Drapers, Zoe has been covering all things fashion retail since August 2022, from breaking industry exclusives to following up important news in the sector. Her specialised areas include retail property, corporate finance, fashion's supply chain and menswear. Email her at zoe.hu@emap.com with any news tips or feedback.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/zoe-hu-562bba196\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/author\/zoe-hu"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425064"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":425108,"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425064\/revisions\/425108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}