By the 1960s the value of a store as a going business often became incidental to its asset value as a property the department store itself became a commodity Rising property values made it tempting for retailers to cashin or redevelop sites particularly in times of tough trading conditions In a climate of increasingly rapacious acqisition of both businesses and property the distinction betweenstore owners and property speculators could become so fine as to be virtually invisible as in the case of entrepreneurs like Charles Clore and Hugh Fraser whose activites frequently mand headline news in the press With retail operating in a world in which the property market was becoming increasingly dominant Christopher Bourne commented later The value of the site could be divorced from the business and the latter transferred to a cheaper rental Much of the store expansion In london modernisation and rebuiliding of the 1960s and 70s was financed by sale and leaseback arrangements which consisted of selling freeholds to financial institutions and then leasing them back in order to free up capital