The joint administrators to Paul Simon (London) Ltd have announced a phased closure of all 22 remaining stores. This will take place over the next three weeks into mid-June, resulting in the loss of 209 jobs in stores and at head office.
Deloitte partner and lead administrator, Lee Manning, comments: “We very much regret that a buyer for the remaining stores as a going concern could not be found. We will close stores over the coming weeks, selling the remaining unsold stock in these stores in clearance sales. The business cannot trade indefinitely without the prospect of a buyer.
“The sector in which Paul Simon operates remains a challenging market. Loss-making stores with excessive rents, a complicated delivery model for relatively modest transaction sizes and financing problems combined to reduce the ongoing viability of the enterprise. This ultimately led to the appointment of administrators and restricted the level of interest from potential purchasers.”
Earlier in May, the administrators announced the sale of the business and assets of seven stores to Lewis’s Home Retail, preserving 73 jobs. The stores sold were Colindale, Chelmsford, Edmonton, Harlow, Hayes, Lakeside and New Malden. Eight stores have already closed in May, and 13 in April.
There were originally 50 leasehold retail stores with 571 employees. Lee Manning and Nick Edwards were appointed joint administrators on 2nd April 2014.
The remaining 22 stores due to be closed are Aylesbury, Aylesford, Basildon, Byfleet, Catford, Chadwell Heath, Colchester, Crawley, Croydon, Fareham, Farnborough, Ipswich, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Norwich, Orpington, Peterborough, Rayleigh, Southampton, Stevenage, Swindon, Watford.
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