The administrators of Claire’s have confirmed that 1,300 remaining staff have been made redundant, as the business has today been wound up.
In a brief statement, the administrator Kroll told Retail Week that as of April 27, “all Claire’s standalone stores (154) in the UK and Ireland have ceased trading”.
The statement continues: “All store employees (c.1300) have been advised of redundancy. We understand an interested party is in discussion with several landlords with a view to taking new leases for some of the sites. 350-plus concession outlets remain trading.”
Retail Week understands the “interested party” in discussion with landlords is Julien Jarjoura, the French businessman who operates Claire’s business in several European countries and is interested in acquiring 50 UK stores, as first reported by Sky News.
Claire’s collapsed into administration for a second time on January 27, just three weeks after it was bought out of administration by Modella Capital.
Modella said in early January that “alarming” low Christmas sales and tough trading conditions left both retailers in a “vulnerable” position.
The firm acquired Claire’s and 156 of its stores out of administration in September in a deal that preserved around 1,000 jobs.
The Original Factory Shop, which was snapped up early last year, has 140 stores and 1,220 employees.
Modella said: “This has been a very tough decision. We have worked intensively in an effort to save both businesses, having made last-ditch attempts to rescue them, but neither has a realistic possibility of trading profitably again.”
The firm noted that the retailers were “highly vulnerable” even before it bought them and blamed the economic climate, which it said “remains extremely challenging”, and government policy.
“A combination of very weak consumer confidence, highly adverse government fiscal policies and continued cost inflation is causing many established and much-loved businesses to suffer badly,” it said.
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