Debenhams used to feel pretty sad and run down even when the shop was pretty new - I think I only ever visited one of their shops once and that was walking through to get to the car park.
Debenhams near me had their staff on min wage 0 hour contracts, which on top of being morally dubious meant they weren't able to afford to buy anything from Debenhams and clearly no one had invested in their training so they didn't know or care about anything on sale there. It was pretty indistinguishable from Primark apart from the general style of clothes (not quality), and that was before Primark opened what looks suspiciously like a department store in Birmingham