BHS to relaunch as online retailer after store closures

Only one month after its last high street store shut its doors, BHS is set to make a swift comeback as an online shopping outlet.

Thursday will see the launch of the business, which will sell home products and clothing lines to customers who were disappointed when BHS went into administration in April.

Eleven thousand jobs were lost when the stores closed, with only 84 being created with the launch of the new e-commerce group. The company is owned by Qatari conglomerate the Al Mana Group, who took over in June of this year.

The business will be managed by David Anderson, who previously held the post of BHS head of international before it hit financial trouble. Anderson spoke of his hopes for the future of the company in a statement.

"We are thrilled to be relaunching this iconic brand back into the UK," Anderson said. "It had a loyal customer base with around 1.2 million British shoppers who bought from us online, and for our relaunch we have managed to secure many of the products they liked the most."

He also said that he is not against the idea of opening up stores again in the future, but that the focus for now would be on online.

"What I've got to do is look forward. This is a new business. It's an iconic British brand, steeped in history. We want to focus on that and move forward. Will we ever be international online or go back to bricks and mortar? Who knows?"

Anderson added that he hopes to increase the workforce for BHS but wants to secure the company on "strong foundations".

"Nearly everybody has worked with us before. We're trying to create jobs. We've got to make sure what we're building is on strong foundations: we're not going to rush into this."