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PRIVACY
Retail & Consumer

Who is retail tycoon Philip Day?

Philip Day is a self-made billionaire who chose industry instead of the mines and the army after leaving school

Retail mogul Philip Day controls Purepay Retail - the new owner of Bonmarche, Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Ponden Home, which has been bought out of administration.

One of Britain's wealthiest high street fashion moguls, alongside names like Philip Green and Mike Ashley - Philip Day has had his name to some of the High Street's best known retail brands.

The Dubai-based owner of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group which operates names including Bonmarché, Ponden Home, Peacocks and Jaeger hit a rough year with Covid-19 restrictions alongside the slow decline of the High Street taking its toll.

In November, the brands went into administration amid a downturn in trading conditions.

, though its stores will not re-open.

. in which 246 stores will be saved by a number of investors Purepay Retail, which is controlled by Mr Day.

The businessman who famously skipped college joined Edinburgh Woolen Mill in 2001. A year later he bought the company outright when it was barely turning a profit.

Day turned it around, acquired other struggling retailers including Austin Reed and Jane Norman to expand his portfolio.

In 2012 he bought Peacocks, one of the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ's largest fashion retailers, which is still trading in administration.