Headhunters have already been hired to find Wan’s successor, according to a separate industry source. It remains unclear whether Wan will retire or take up another post within the parent company, Dickson Concepts International Ltd.
Wan was hired as the store’s ceo in 1992, shortly after Harvey Nichols was acquired by the Hong Kong-based Dickson Concepts. He helmed the store throughout its Nineties heyday, and was part of the team that helped to take it public on the London Stock Exchange in 1996. The store was subsequently delisted in 2003, and is wholly owned by Dickson Concepts.
During the Nineties and the Aughts, Wan oversaw the brand’s expansion into catering, namely the launch of the OXO Tower restaurant, bar and brasserie on London’s South Bank, and the store’s retail expansion into more U.K. cities, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Indonesia and Turkey.