Deja-vu as Debenhams boss does a ‘Halfords’

Check out this story http://news.independent.co.uk/…/story.jsp?story=477808

For ‘Debenhams’ read ‘Halfords’.

Of course, Templeman ups and leaves before his policies truly come home to roost, say retail analysts.

Halfords had a good year in 2003, but then so did the great majority of bicycle businesses. Many suppliers to Halfords, however, are once-bitten, twice-shy, and do not view the retailer in the same rosy light as they did prior to Templeman’s infamous letter.

Merida, once a behind-the-scenes player in the UK market, supplying Halfords with many of its house-brand bikes, is now a consumer-facing brand in its own right, a move believed to be directly connected to Templeman’s ‘pay up or else’ dictat.