Head, the entertainment retailer launched by the former boss of defunct Zavvi, has only taken short-term leases on stores bought from the administrator, raising questions over its long-term plans.

Simon Douglas, along with Les Whitfield, chief of entertainment retailer Impulse, last week took on five stores from Zavvi’s administrator Ernst & Young, through Head Entertainment.

He subsequently took another two – in Cardiff and Bristol Broadmead – but it is understood a contract at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, could not be agreed.

It is thought all seven Head stores, including Bluewater and Liverpool One, have been signed on a short-term basis – some as short as three months.

Lend Lease director of leasing for Bluewater Russell Loveland said: “We have agreed a short-term location for Head to trade in while we work at fulfilling a long-term solution.”

Another landlord that signed Head on a short-term basis said: “We don’t know what its long-term position is going to be. It’s a possibility that they might just be trading to sell off the old stock. As far as we’re concerned it keeps the money coming in for now.”

One landlord said Head had been granted a minimal rent on an “almost entirely turnover” basis. “We have agreed to a short-term temporary location to keep them trading, but I have a deal in place with someone to take that store,” the landlord said.

Last week Ernst & Young said Head is “expected to trade the stores using the stock purchased in the deal and from other sources in future”.

Sources close to the situation said Head kept on a small number of former Zavvi staff to work in its headquarters. Douglas declined to comment.

Zavvi collapsed into administration in December after struggling when its main supplier, Woolworths-owned EUK, hit the buffers the previous month.

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