Please use the links below to navigate to each section of Who's Gone Bust in retail.
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Companies failing |
Stores Affected |
Employees Affected |
2022 (to 6 May) | 9 | 1,335 | 18.168 |
2021 (12 months) | 19 | 1,758 | 26,274 |
2020 (12 months) | 54 | 5,214 | 109,407 |
2019 (12 months) |
43 |
2,051 |
46,506 |
2018 (12 months) |
43 |
2,594 |
46,014 |
2017 (12 months) |
44 |
1,383 |
12,225 |
2016 (12 months) |
30 |
1,504 |
26,110 |
2015 (12 months) |
25 |
728 |
6,845 |
2014 (12 months) |
43 |
1,314 |
12,335 |
2013 (12 months) |
49 |
2,500 |
25,140 |
2012 (12 months) |
54 |
3,951 |
48,142 |
2011 (12 months) |
31 |
2,469 |
24,025 |
2010 (12 months) |
26 |
944 |
10,930 |
2009 (12 months) |
37 |
6,536 |
26,688 |
2008 (12 months) |
54 |
5,793 |
74,539 |
2007 (12 months) |
25 |
2,600 |
14,083 |
Please Note: the figures given above for every year refer ONLY to UK business failures and to retail companies operating i the UK - not American business and not restaurants, cafes or food services.
McColl's Retail Group, the chain of convenience stores and convenience/newsagents (CTN) trading as R S McColl, McColl's and Morrisons Daily, went into adminstration early in May 2022. The Group operates 1,300 convenience and newsagents stores throughout Great Britain, employing as many as 16,000 workers. Unlike other convenience chains, the Group did not benefit during the pandemic from increased footfall, it has suffered from supply shortages, heavy debts and has been hit by the high cost of converting its stores to the new Morrisons brand. Its debt may be £96m or £170m depending on whose figures you believe. It was originally started in 1901 by a famous Scottish footballer, R S McColl. It has changed ownership several times, becoming part of Forbuoys in 1998. It owns trading names including R S McColl (only used in Scotland), McColl’s (their branded convenience stores), and the no-longer used Martins and Dillons names. An agreement with Morrisons allows 350 McColl stores (recently increased to 450 stores) to be rebranded as ‘Morrisons Daily’, supplies being delivered by Morrisons. One-third of the estate incorporates a local post office, making the chain the largest PO operator in the UK. The Group raised £30m last year to fund store conversion to the Morrisons Daily brand. McColl's Retail Group has been hovering on the edge of bankruptcy for many weeks. A last-minute offer by Morrisons proved insufficient for its creditors and it went into administration on 6 May 2022. This is the largest failure in the retail industry since 2020. Morrisons finally is in the process of taking over the comapny, saving the pension fund and presumably most of the jobs.
Sofa Workshop, the 16-branch multiple selling sitting-room furniture, went into administration and ceased trading end-March 2022. As well as the problems imposed by covid lockdowns, the company suffered from supply delays in receiving shipments from Asia and exceptional increases in transport costs for bring in goods from the other side of the world. These issues meant that the company ran out of money and became dependent on credit from its suppliers. The order book has been sold so customers will receive the goods they have on order. Fifteen stores have already closed and 77 staff made redundant. One store will remain open to sell off remaining stock.
Click It Local, an online business partly funded by local authorities, enabling shoppers to buy and pay for goods from local stores with same-day delivery went into administration at the end of March. Originally intended to offer a virtual high street for local businesses it operated in several areas including Suffolk, the Norfolk Broads, Cambridgeshire and Essex before running out of capital.
Steptronic Footwear, a small Rushden-based supplier of luxury footwear, went into administration in March 2022. Its products are sold through 3,000 stores and via ecommerce.
T M Lewin, Shirtmaker, established in 1898, has gone into administration once more in March 2022. After its failure in 2020 it was bought by US-owned Group, Torque Brands, and went online-only, closing 150 stores. There are now around 50 employees. Its problems are thought to be caused by the fall in formal shirt purchases as a result of WFH and increased casualisation of clothing both for leisure and for work. T M Lewin is to be bought (April 2022) by one of its major lenders, the Petra Group. It is understood that several high-street chains are interested in acquiring the group.
J C Rook and Sons, butchers in Kent with a large online business and 11 stores, went into administration in March 2022. There will be 155 redundancies. The company was founded in 1965 and has established itself as a supplier mainly of local meats.
Scottish retail supplier of fish products, Dawnfresh, went into administration in March 2022. Its Arbroath plant has been sold, its Uddingston plant has closed with a loss of 200+ jobs, and Dawnfresh Farming will continue to trade.
Irish-based Licence-holder AEO EU, operating two American Eagle stores in the Irish Republic and about to open two American Eagle stores in London, is being wound up. AEO EU's 2019 agreement to operate American Eagle and Aerie stores across Europe was eventually terminated by American Eagle (AEO) on the grounds of an unpaid debt ($7.7m) and lack of progress in meeting the terms of the original American Eagle licence. AEO EU protested that the delays were due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The termination meant that AEO EU, now unable to sell American Eagle merchandise, could no longer trade. The licence holder earned €34.5m in 2019-end 2021. In addition to the Irish stores were outlets in Switzerland, the Czech Republic and the two unopened London stores expected to trade as American Eagle and as Aerie. There were also 14 concessions in Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Andorra plus an e-commerce site.
Shabby Store, the online 'modern' furniture brand, based on a trendy colour-palette of grey, white and silver along with mirrored-effect furniture, went into administration in February. Its turnover reached £2m and its customers included many style guides. It was later (April) acquired by another online company, TheRugSeller.co.uk which relaunched the Shabby Store as Shabby.co.uk selling homewares as well as furniture with the same ethos as the original Shabby Store.
Studio Retail, an Accrington-based online retailer 29% owned by Mike Ashley's Fraser Group, went into administration in mid-February 2022. Studio Retail sells clothing, homeware, electricals and gifts. Its sales in the last financial year were £579m and it had 2.5m customers. There are 1,500 employees. The reason for administration is understood to relate to a failure to raise a £25m loan, needed to fund the business and sell off surplus stock. The Group's stock exchange listing is suspended. Mike Ashley's Frasers Group acquired Studio Retail a few days later for £27m with a promise to spent £100m on the business, thus saving 1,500 jobs..
Big Home Shop, an online retailer of garden furniture, and Physioroom, online retailer of home exercise and injury protection equipment, went into administration in January 2022. Big Home Shop sales and costs were affected by shipment delays from China and the company could not raise the extra finance required by lenders and creditors. This business also provided services and facilities for Physioroom, which as also put ito administration. The companies are based in Padiham, near Burnley.
Company Administrations in 2021
Trinity Group, a Chinese-owned upmarket fashion conglomerate, went into administration early in January 2022. The Group is understood to be heavily indebted. It owns several ‘heritage’ fashion businesses, including Kent & Curwen, Gieves & Hawkes, D’Urban (Japan) and Cerruti. Administration is thought to have become essential when it failed to find a buyer for its Gieves & Hawkes subsidiary. A majority stake in Trinity is owned by Shundong Ruyl International, based in China. This does not mean that its subsidiaries are now in administration, but they have become assets in a struggle to find the way that will repay most to Trinity’s creditors. The least likely outcome is a solvent third-party acquiring Trinity. The most likely outcome is the sale or disposal of the main subsidiaries, including: Gieves & Hawkes; Kent & Curwen; D’Urban (Japan); and Cerruti and Cerruti 1881.
Kesslers International, a major retail display business formed in 1888 was put into administration by its owner, the Hexcite Group, in December after trading at a loss for several years. Out of 160 staff, 125 have been made redundant. Sales for the most recent year were £20m. Press reports suggest that staff made redundant intend to sue the administrators or perhaps others responsible on the grounds that legally-required consultation with employees was not carried out before redunancies were announced.
Farmdrop, an online supplier sourcing groceries direct from farmers, went into administration a few days before Christmas 2021. The company is to close down and all trading (including deliveries) has ceased (16 December 2021). Farmdrop had 10,000 customers in 2020 and sales of £11.8m compared to £5.2m the previous year. However total losses over four years amounted to £30m, according to The Grocer. Staff numbers exceeded 200.
Kent & Curwen, a British ‘heritage’ menswear fashion chain previously linked to David Beckham, ceased trading in the UK in November after owners, the Trinity Group, appointed two restructuring firms as joint liquidators. The Times has suggested that several million is owed to David Beckham by Trinity for his previous work with the brand. Further information about Trinity see above.
Loopster, an ecommerce start-up focused on ‘vintage’ clothing , selling second-hand clothes to ‘extend the life of fashion garments’ and seed-funded by the Development Bank of Wales, went into administration in November 2021. It failed to get further financial support for expansion and so the directors put the business into administration.
Gribble’s Butchers, Ivybridge, Devon. In Who’s Gone Bust in Retail we do not normally report on micro-businesses, but the experience of Gribble’s Butchers is likely to be typical of a trend amongst smaller operators. This was a family butchers, established for 27 years, with branches in Plympton and Ivybridge and a farm base at Buckfastleigh. It won awards for the Best Butcher in the SW and other awards four times since 2012. It closed in November 2021 saying that the staff were ‘physically and mentally beaten’ by the pandemic and would be unable to deal with the pressures of a very uncertain Christmas. They returned the deposits customers had made towards their meat at Christmas. Source: Plymouth Live https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/family-butcher-business-closes-staff-6147247
Simply Scuba, an award-winning diving retailer based in Faversham, went into administration in June. Thirty-two jobs are at risk. SimplyScuba has won the Dive Retailer of the Year award for ten years in succession. The Simply Group also runs SimplyHike and SimplySwim. The Simply Scuba website continues to trade, with its new 500M Divers Watch on sale today for £109.
We have published these lists of medium and large UK retailers that have gone bust (ie entered ‘administration’ to seek protection from creditors or gone into liquidation) for more than 17 years.
Business failure can often be a temporary inconvenience. We are not suggesting that the businesses listed here no longer survive, but they have gone through the legal process of insolvency known as administration. This listing is based on research carried out at the time based on our understanding of their business affairs. More recent information may well change some of the assumptions or conclusions. Some of these firms entered administration and then were closed down. Others have had a second life as ecommerce-only businesses with no or few physical stores. Most of the large firms came out of administration and are still trading. Some have been sold, but changed their name. Others exist as departments or concessions in larger stores. The presence of any business in this listing must not be taken to imply that it no longer exists, its name is no longer used or that such business, if still trading, is impaired in anyway.
This listing relates to business failures occurring in 2019. We keep a record of previous years and these can be downloaded as PDFs as follows (These documents open in a new window)
This listing relates to business failures occurring in 2019. We keep a record of previous years and these can be downloaded as PDFs as follows (These documents open in a new window)