Wittards of Chelsea Gone Bust

markelock

a shop being packed won't be an indication as to whether it is doing well (although it's better than being empty)

If they are reducing prices, they are making less money.

when the rents and tax bills land in January, we will see, although I hope as many businesses as possible can sustain the current climate.

Trollfever

Just an anecdote on my local Woolies.

Offers are invited for the display cabinets, office furniture, safe etc.

The prices of their retail stock are still too high and the sales assistant looked very suprised when I asked if they were prepared to take offers yet for the unsold stock,

emay

I thought I was keeping them in buisness the amount of the powdered teas I buy! Does this mean I have to drink plain old boring tea now?

elisebutt65

Don't keep talking them down!!! As the Times says - they are on the brink of administration - the more people talk about them like they're already gone - then what hope have they got???

BellyDuJour

I wouldn't be surprised to see Evans and Game close.

The idea is good for Evans and they are one of the only high street chain of their kind, but their clothes are often overpriced and I think they sometimes miss the mark on what the 'larger lady' would like to wear. Many a time I've gone in there and thought '!!!!!!'!!

Game isn't that competitive from what I can gather. My husband loves his computer games, and only really uses them due to being able to trade in his old games for store credit. I went to buy him a new PS3 controller last weekend and it was £10 cheaper in Zavvi which is a few doors down! Their online prices aren't at all competitive and I think that when games are around £40 a pop, when people are tightening their spending, computer games might be one of the things people cut back on.

competitionscafe

Jessops, JJB Sports and Land of Leather all struggling according to this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/more-retailers-fighting-for-survival-1208549.html

Not that thats news though as their share prices have all been hammered recently as has DSG (Dixons) - I think their entire market value is equivalent to the retail value of 2 days sales. (I know margins on electricals are tiny but still...)

vivatifosi

fc123 wrote: »

I just googled Bauger to get their list of links....it's gone.
From memory, in clothing they had shares in the following (either directly or indirectly with Kevin Stanford)

Hof F
Hamleys
Mosaic Fashion; Coast, K Millen, Whistles, Warehouse, Oasis, Nine west, Shoe studio (?) All Saints, Ghost (now sold to the actual manufacturer...woohoo! A Good Thing)
Jane Norman, Principles....ummm...Iceland food.

Plus Whittards, Julian Graves.

The Icelandic retail pyramid scheme has a lot more unravelling to go through.
In the trade press it seems Mosaic fashion will go into administartion and all the fascias will be sold off in chunks......the majority are good businesses.


Mosaic has debt equal to gross T/O. If my business had that level of debt, I would be pretty fooocked now.

Here's a list of the main retailers/brands with Baugur investments - you did manage to get a lot of them!

Mosaic (owners of Oasis, Warehouse, Principles, Karen Millen, Coast, Odille)

Shoe Studio Group (Pied a Terre, Nine West, Kenneth Cole, Bertie, Roland Cartier, Easy Spirit)

Whistles
Jane Norman
All Saints
Matthew Williamson
House of Fraser
Iceland
Whittard of Chelsea
Hamleys
Goldsmiths
Mappin and Webb
Wyevale Garden Centres

Edit: Julian Graves was sold earlier this year (or the sale was going through earlier this year - September) to the parent company of Holland & Barratt.

markelock

iceland? but where will mums go?

penguine

did Baugur buy up businesses which already weren't doing too well?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4506536.stm

mizzbiz

Plasticman wrote: »

M&S have been through a bad patch but have improved profits over recent years - I wonder if it will be enough to keep them going through these bad times.....

Not sure how profitable Waterstones are, but I can imagine that more people will turn to Amazon (or the library!) as money gets tight.

Zavvi & JJB are possible. B&Q, Homebase etc are going to struggle. I would be surprised if Clark's or Next fell but anything is possible at the moment!

I had the feeling yesterday that Clarks may be in trouble. I was walking past their Newcastle store yesterday and the window is covered in 50% off plus extra discount posters. I know that's normal in a sale but Clarks? They normally have a small January and summer sale of all their crap but this was everything. I even commented to OH that I thought it may be in trouble before I read this.

Lots of shoe shops seem to be struggling IMO. That's where the sales started first a few weeks back and they're still going strong now. Some of the reductions are huge - even in Kurt Geiger!