'Mr Bourne's dilemma'. Consumer culture, property speculation and department store demise: the rise and fall of Bourne and Hollingsworth on London's Oxford Street

► We examine a case study of London department store Bourne and Hollingsworth in the c20th. ► We compare competing explanations for its failure. ► Store conservatism against a backdrop of shifts in consumer cultures is found to be a partial explanation. ► A study of micro-geographies reveals the store's vulnerable positioning. ► Weakness in family business structure in an era of property speculation also made failure likely.