Discounter Your More Store will be saved from 'looming administration' if a buy-out deal with Brown & Jackson executive chairman Carel Stassen goes through.
Stassen has agreed heads of terms for the purchase of the 199-store chain and claims he can turn the retailer around in three to five years. He said the chain was otherwise heading for 'very serious trouble'. He hoped a deal would be concluded in the next month.
Stassen plans a number of changes, including a new store design. At present, Stassen is in the US looking at stores for inspiration. He plans to revamp an existing shop in May.
The head office will move from Scotland to a more central location and some shops will close. Stassen said a quarter of the stores had 'unfavourable leasehold agreements' and would either be closed or renegotiated.
Stassen said the offer itself would change very little. 'It's a poor man's department store,' he said. The stores will serve communities of about 10,000 people, he said.
A new management team will join Stassen and managing director Marius Koch, who joined the business in October.
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