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.........................................................................................................
 Who's
Gone Bust in UK Retailing 2005-8?
November 2008
Legal Note: this listing of UK retailers
who went into receivership between 2005 and 2008 is based on research
carried out at the time and our understanding of their business
affairs then. Some of these companies recovered and came out of
administration; some were bought by other businesses; some were
sold as going concerns but changed their name; for some, the name
was bought and this is still used, but under different ownership;
and others ceased to exist. The presence of any business in this
historical listing must not be taken to imply that it no longer
exists, its name is not used or that such business, if still trading,
is impaired in anyway.
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2008
The predicted failures of a large number of companies in 2008 have
now occurred - certainly, with more to come. This has been the worst
year since the early 80's. Three quick points. First, failure or
administration is not something that occurs overnight: it is the
result of months or years of poor trading, cash flow problems and
failing to build up reserves. Secondly, there are rather too many
instances of failure followed by immediate purchase by another investor.
Thirdly, the impact of failure on the UK supply chain can be immense.
The fall of Stead and Simpson has already caused the bankruptcy
of at least one shoe manufacturer: the retailer was accepting deliveries
until a few days before going into administration. Shopfitter organisations
have also been having a terrible time over the past two years: JDS
Group (350 employees and £30 m sales) is the most recent casualty.
- Ghost, the 33-store fashion chain (formerly
with Icelandic backing), went into administration late in October
and was bought by Touker Suleyman, owner of Hawes & Curtis.
- Celebrations Holdings, the owner of 288-store
chains (1,800 staff), such as Card Warehouse and Cardfair went
into administration in October. It continues to trade as normal.
- Hardy Amies,
couturier high fashion and once dressmaker to the Queen with 6 stores,
went into receivership in October. It had asked its major backer,
Arev (linked to Icelandic private equity fund Kcaj) for extra cash.
- Miss Sixty (business name, Sixty UK), the youth-oriented
fashion trade with 12 stores and other concessions, went into
administration in October.
- Joy, a medium-sized fashion and homewares chain
(company name, Maureen O'Brien), with 28 stores and 370 employees
called in the receivers on the last day of September 2008.
- The management of MFI, the bathroom and home
furnishings group with 2,500 staff and 192 stores, arranged a
buy-out in September, did some reorganisation and put the retail
and property divisions into administration at the beginning of
October. Its previous owners MEP had bought the group in 2006
for £1. In the 80s, MFI was important enough to set ASDA-MFI -
a new type of company covering both food and non-food.
- Motor World, the 237-store chain of car-parts
and accessories, fell into administration following a "significant"
downturn in retail sales.
- Rosebys, the home furnishings group and haberdasher,
which has 2000 staff and 280 stores, went into administration
in September. Rosebys' outlets at Glasgow Sauchiehall Street,
Glasgow Forge, Dunstable, Basildon, Swindon, Brighton, Wood Green
London, Sutton Coldfield, Oldham and Leicester were closed on
October 2 and staff made redundant the next day.
- Faith Shoes, the shoe stores with 2000 jobs,
went into receivership before being sold to a new group (men's
clothing retailer Envy, owned by Kinnaird, and teenage fashion
business Chilli Pepper, owned by Agilo). Kinnaird and the management
own a majority of shares.
- Jumpers, the 40-store fashion chain (with 40
Irish concessions), went into administration in August.
- Wrapit, the online wedding gifts firm, went into administration
in August after the collapse of talks to save the firm, which
employs 100 people and has 15 showrooms dealing with 3,000 wedding
lists a year.
- Beds Direct, with 42 stores went into administration
in July and has been bought by its management. One-half of stores
have been closed, but will continue to trade from the remaining
stores and online.
- Floors-2-go, the wood and laminate flooring company with
137 branches, went into administration in July. The sliding housing
market and a slump in do-it-yourself home improvements was blamed.
 41
stores are to close immediately with 97 redundancies. The company
was bought from the administrators by the Hodges family, the previous
owners of the firm.
- General Trading Company, the famous Chelsea (London)
department store with three royal warrants, went into administration
in July 2008. The company was founded in 1920 and has an exclusive
clientele. The company is trading as usual and it is hoped that
a quick sale can be made.
- ScS Upholstery Plc lost part of its supplier insurance
cover in June, suspended trading in its shares towards the end
of the month, failed to find a buyer, went into administration
in the first week of July and was bought by PPH Ltd, linked to
Sun European Partners LLP. The company continues to trade from
its 96 stores (1300 staff).
- ProCook, the kitchen equipment and cookware retailer
with 39 stores went into administration in July. It was set up
in 1993 and employs
 261
staff. By the end of July, a management buy-in (backed by Ensco
688) had purchased the group, intending to keep all staff and
stores.
- Ilva, the Icelandic-owned furniture retailer with three
stores, which aspired to rival John Lewis by 2010, collapsed in
June. It made a loss of £62 million on £26 million sales during
2006/7. The company had been sold in August 2007 to Lagerinn (also
operates The Pier). There were 400 employees. The stores were
all closed in July when no buyer could be found.
- MK One, the value fashion retailer with 170 stores and
2,500 employees, was acquired by the turnround specialist Hilco
from Bauger in April 2008. Many of its invoices were unpaid and
cheques sent to cover the Christmas period had been cancelled.
The Company was put into administration three weeks later. MK
One is likely to survive as a 80+ or 110-store company meaning
that one third or more of stores will close. 100 of its stores
were sold to Jet Star Ltd for £7.1m after a few days. Jet Star
is connected to Mark Brafman, a director and shareholder in MK
One before it collapsed in the mid-1990s.
- New Heights, the furniture chain started in 1999, ceased
trading in May. It had 20 stores in locations such as Bath, Bristol,
Cambridge, Reading and Nottingham. The owners bought Sofa Workshop
(34 stores) in 2006, but their stores were unaffected by the news.
Existing shareholders bought Sofa Workshop and five of the 'New
Heights' stores which will be rebranded as Sofa Workshop.
- Sound Control Group, the largest UK musical-instrument
retailer with 26 stores and sales of £60 million and 338 staff
went into administration in May. It trades as Sound Control, Media
Tools, Turnkey and Soho Sound House. Ten stores have already been
closed with 163 employees made redundant.
- Ethel Austin, the Liverpool-based value fashion
retailer with 2,800 staff and 300 stores, went into admin in mid-April.
This retailer with around £150 million sales pa had been suffering
for at least two years and for the last eight months has been
very shaky indeed. Only a few days before, a refinancing deal
for the business seemed in prospect. 33 stores closed immediately
(265 jobs) and 180 head office jobs were also lost.
- Ossian Retail Group, owner of fashion group
Internaçionale and the Au Naturale homeware outlets, went into
admin in April as part of a deal by new investor Agilo to break
it up. There are 120 outlets, likely to be purchased by Edinburgh
Woollen Mill, Poundstretcher and Bon Marché. B&M Bargains has
already bought 30 Ossian stores
- Farmers Hypermarket, parent company of 'Farmers'
City Market', went into administration in April owing £831,000.
- FreshXpress, the grocery retailer that emerged
from the ruins of KwikSave last year, has gone
into administration. What a surprise.
- Toyzone Ltd, the operator of 20 toyshops in
the South East, South West/Wales, Yorks/Humber and NI, went into
administration in April but was rescued by J A Magson (toys/stationery
distributor). It has 200 employees. Its parent company, Youngsters,
which also acts as a buying group for independent toy retailers,
also went into administration.
- Sleep Depot, 100 units, 71 of which are concessions
Land of Leather, went into administration in April.
- Richleys Stewarts, the Swansea-based value
clothing chain of 29 stores, collapsed in March. Administrators
have sold 15 stores that will continue to trade (132 jobs) although
137 jobs will disappear in the remaining stores.
- Mexx, the US-owned fashion retailer, is to
close all its 61 stores by July, costing 300 jobs. This only affects
the UK operation (leaving 6000 employees in 64 other countries).
Mexx is a subsidiary of Liz Claiborne, but failed to perform against
Zara and H&M. Its UK factory outlets will remain.
- Select Retail, the 250-store value chain selling
women's fashion and jewellery, went into administration in February
but an immediate management buy-out saved one-half the stores
and 1,000 jobs.
- Elvi, the plus-size ladies' fashion chain with
28 stores and 63 concessions in Debs and HoF etc, went into administration
in early February, and most of it was rescued a week later by
mystery buyers.
- Base Menswear, boy's and men's clothing, put
its 18 stores into administration in February. It is hoped that
some debt reform and structural change may preserve the 100-year
old business.
- Sports Café, the operator of sports themed
bars in the UK, went into administration in Feb and its sites
in Manchester and Liverpool have been sold. The rest of the chain
will be sold as a going concern.
- The Works, the much-loved remaindered bookseller trading
as The Works, Book Depot, Banana Bookshop and Art Depot, went
into administration in February 2008. The company had 300 stores
(1600 staff) and suffered from poor trading, partly caused by
supermarket bookselling. In May, a management buy-in via Endless
costing £17-£25 million bought the company.
- Empire Stores, the oldest UK mail-order company, has
been bought by Littlewoods, which took over its order book and
current assets in January 2008, closing down all its operations,
850 workers losing their jobs.
- Stead and Simpson, owners of Shoe Express, Lilley & Skinner,
and Peter Briggs, did a quick shuffle in Jan 2008 to survive -
thanks to Shoe Zone. Stead and Simpson went into administration,
Shoe Zone immediately took over 300 stores from the 375 chain
and Clinkards took over 25, meaning that perhaps only 500 out
of 3000 jobs have been lost. The 25 factory outlets trading as
Famous Footwear had been sold off to H Jacobson, the famous novelist,
author of Coming From Behind and that one about table tennis as
well as owning Gola, Ravel, Lotus and Frank Wright.
- Dolcis, the high-street footwear retailer with 1,200
employees and 185 stores and concessions went into administration
in January 2008, 600 staff losing their jobs and 89 stores being
closed immediately. It was bought from Alexon in 2006, but over
Christmas its major backer, Epic Private Equity, pulled out .
In Feb 2008, the brand-name, stock and trading rights for 24 stores
were bought by Stylo and 42 stores were put on the market for
disposal.
- Card World, the 27 strong card chain, went into administration
in January.
In Administration 2007
- Ponden Mill, the home furnishings chain with more than
135 stores, went into administration in December 2007 one month
after being bought for £6m by recovery specialist Hilco and hedge
fund Agilo. Thirty-three stores have been sold to Instore, the
owner of Poundstretcher, and six stores to Belfast-based retailer
Bedeck.
- Nevsport, a Scottish supplier of outdoor and snow sports
equipment with 12 stores, went into administration in October.
It is now owned by billionaire Mike Ashley.
- ePlay, the 123-store games chain, went into administration
in Sept 2007.
- RONIT ZILKHA, the designer fashion retailer with five
standalone stores and eight concessions, went into administration
in September.
- ChoicesUK, the DVD retailer with retail, local and direct
operations went bust in August. Its local and direct arms were
sold to Findtel and Blockbuster bought 59 of its shops in September.
 Kwik-Save,
the downmarket grocery chain, collapsed in July 2007. 90 stores
were immediately closed and 1,100 people lost their jobs. The
other 56 stores may be saved and rebranded as FreshXpress.
In May/June 2007 it was in and out of court, fighting administration.
It succumbed finally on 6th July.- Hawkeshead, the clothing retailer rescued from bankruptcy
in 2006, is to be broken up and sold off. It employed 400 staff,
had 20 stores and T/O was around £25 million.
 Fopp,
the 3rd largest UK music store, closed half its stores on Friday
22 June 2007 to carry out an urgent stocktake, announced a strategic
review of the business, but went into administration a week later,
blaming internet and supermarket sales of CDs and intense price
competition. All 105 stores closed on 29 June 2007 and 700 staff
lost their jobs.Fopp was a private company that had bought one-half
of Music Zone a few months previously, which cannot have
helped. HMV bought the name and some of its best stores
over summer.- The Natural World, the eco-gift retailer, has been unable
to find a buyer since it went into administration in January.
- Klaussner, the furniture retailer with 29 stores and
turnover of £27 million, went into administration for the second
time in May 2007. 250 staff have lost their jobs. The sites are
up for sale.
- Only2, the store chain set up by former Poundland
boss that sold everything for £2, went into liquidation in April
2007. The six shops in Brierley Hill, Keightley, Swansea etc closed
before Easter.
- Elle, the ladies fashionwear chain rescued
from administration (as Actif) in 2006 and now operating as L
Wear, went into administration again in March 2007, blaming cash-flow
problems. 32 of its 40 outlets have been closed by the administrator
and concessions in HoF have all closed. The business is likely
to be sold by the Administrators in May in some form.
- Ravel: Goodbye Ravel. After five years of losses, Clarkes
announced in May that it is finally closing the 50-store shoe
chain that trades as Ravel.
- Goodbye Robbs Department Store, Hexham. Closing after
189 years of trading, its owners (Owen Owen) notified employees
they had lost their jobs by sounding the fire alarm and holding
an al fresco staff meeting in the car park.
- Toyworld, with 22 stores and 223 staff, went
into administration in March 2007, blaming poor trading. The Company's
parent is Youngsters.
- Owen Owen, which runs Lewis's in Liverpool, Esslemont
& MacIntosh in Aberdeen, Robbs in Hexham (Northumberland), and
Jopling's in Sunderland went into administration at the end of
February. By May there was hope of reconstituting it as 'son of
Allders'.
- Filmnight, the DvD rental business with 60 stores, was
placed in administration. 14 stores have been purchased by Christopher
Simpson.
- David Flatman , the discount book retailer that trades
as Bookworld, Bargain Books and bw! went into administration in
mid-February 2007.There were 50 stores (turnover £30 million)
with 397 staff. Eight stores closed immediately with four more
due to shut at the end of February.
- Stationery Box, the Warrington-based chain
of 140 stationery stores, went into administration on 31 January
2007 blaming stiff competition from supermarkets and the internet.
Theo Paphitis (Dragons' Den) had bought the company name
and 61 stores only a few days beforehand.
- Right Price Tiles, the Swansea-based company
with 53 stores, went into administration at the end of January.
An earlier version of this company called Tiles-R-Us had done
the same last year until being bought by the Irish concern, Railway
Tile Store (note: imaginative company names in this sector
of retailing).
- The Peak Store, a small walking/adventure clothing
business with shops in Bakewell, Derby and Nottingham went out
of business losing 30 jobs blaming mild weather, high costs and
competition from multiples.
- H Plumb & Son, the Wigan-based electrical chain
with 10 stores and 100 staff, is also in administration. It has
closed 8 shops and dismissed three-quarters of the existing employees.
- Greeting Card Group, the second-largest UK
greeting card store, went pop on 2 January 2007. It has 470 stores
trading mainly as 'Cardfair' or 'Card Warehouse' and 2,500 employees.
The turnover was £70 milllion.
- Music Zone,the independent music store chain,
which sold itself as a cut-price alternative to Virgin and HMV,
went into administration in early January affecting 1,100 staff
and 103 stores. Fopp bought the company name, 67 stores, 3 warehouses
before going bust themselves a few months later.
- Little Chef, the ubiquitous roadside restaurant
chain with several previous owners, went into administration at
the beginning of January 2007, having failed to obtain new funds
over Christmas. 196 of the chain's 236 restuarants were later
sold to a new owner in January, saving most of the 3200 jobs.
The company is to be sold in July for £20 million the Benetton
family (who own Autogrill in Italy).
Who Went Down in 2006?
- Olan Mills Photography
- Glyn Webb
- Aftershock
- Ilkeston Consumer Coop
- MFI sold off (see 2008)
- Mikey Contemporary Jewellery
- PowerHouse electricals retailing
- Toymaster Kingdom
- Actif owner of the Elle brand in the UK
- Morgan UK Fashion Icon
- Miller Brothers electrical business
- Baron Jon menswear retailers
- Dewhurst Master Butcher
- Silverscreen
- Bewise and QS value fashion chains
- Sock Shop
- Capo Man & Woman
- Kookai
- MVC and DVD
NEWS OF 2005
During 2005, the retailers that collapsed or went into administration
included:
- Past Times
- Allders Department Store (Croydon store rescued by Jaeger and
still bears the name)
- Unwins Wine group
- All:Sports
- Furnitureland
- The Sofa Company
- Ciro Citterio
- the Gadget Shop
- Index
- Etam
- Pilot Clothing
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