Paul Simon’s administrator is to shut 17 of the home furnishings retailer’s 50 stores, putting 137 jobs at risk.

The shops, which are loss making, will be shut over the next three weeks and a closing down Sale will start in them soon.

Administrator Deloitte also said that 28 employees at the retailer’s head office, and at its warehouse and factory, have been made redundant today (April 4).

Paul Simon, which has 50 shops, collapsed into administration on Wednesday. The last straw for the retailer was the recent flooding which affected parts of the country, hitting store footfall.

Joint administrator Lee Manning of Deloitte said of the store closures: “This step has been taken to enhance the prospect of securing a sale of all or part of the remaining business as a going concern.”

On Wednesday Manning told Retail Week there have been several expressions of interest in Paul Simon already.

The stores slated to close are:

  • Aylesbury
  • Banbury
  • Bedford
  • Bournemouth
  • Daventry
  • Dunstable
  • Gillingham
  • Great Yarmouth
  • Luton
  • Margate
  • Portsmouth
  • Reading
  • Sittingbourne
  • Strood
  • Wimbledon
  • Worcester
  • Worthing