Eighteen Barratts Priceless stores to close before Christmas
Administrators for the collapsed Barratts and Priceless shoe chain have announced that 18 stores will close before Christmas.
Five Barratts and 13 Priceless stores will shut on Friday. The move will result in the loss of around 127 jobs across the UK and Ireland. A further 43 jobs will be lost at the chain’s head office in Bradford.
The remaining 173 shops, which employ 3,670 people, will remain open while administrator Deloitte seeks a buyer for all or parts of the business.
Barratts Priceless called in the administrators on 8 December. This is the second time the company has entered administration. In 2009, the company was rescued by Michael Ziff, chairman of the Barratts Priceless parent company Stylo, who bought 160 of the 280 shops. Currently the chain has 191 shops and 371 concessions.
Daniel Butters, joint administrator and partner at Deloitte said: “Regrettably, we have been unable to continue to trade all of the Barratts Priceless group stores and have had to make 127 employees across 18 stores redundant.
“In addition, a total of 43 staff were made redundant from the head office based in Bradford. Employees in this position will be paid up until the last day of employment. We have provided the employees with full briefings to help them understand their position and the further support available through the Redundancy Payments Office.”
The five Barratts shops to close are in Belfast, Kilmarnock, Darlington, Cardiff and Blackpool. Thirteen Priceless stores will close in Strabane, Durham, Leeds, Kettering, Carlow, Dublin, Torquay, Weymouth, Oldham, Croydon, King’s Lynn, Bexhill-on-Sea and Erdington.
