G.R. Owen is the last of Cardiff's old department stores. Times are hard and the ancient firm has gone into administration. But who are the Administrators? What goes on behind the shutters at night? And why are customers disappearing? Torchwood are already investigating.

G.R. Owen is the site of their oldest unsolved cases, and Jack is determined to solve it before the store closes forever — which is why Ianto is working undercover in gentlemen's fashions and Gwen is in handbags.

Are the new managers really aliens? What connection do they have to the mysterious G.R. Owen himself? And is Jack the only one looking for the Department of Curiosities, last seen in 1905?