Fashion group Ted Baker is to shut 15 stores with the loss of some 245 jobs, administrators today confirmed.
The business behind Ted Baker’s UK shops, No Ordinary Designer Label Limited (NODL), brought in administrators from Teneo last month. They have now confirmed 11 stores will close by the end of next week, with the loss of some 120 jobs, while 25 head office workers will also lose their jobs.
Another four stores will close “in the coming weeks” after landlords served notice on the sites prior to the insolvency, meaning another 100 job losses.
The administrators said the stores earmarked for closure were currently loss-making and believe “have no prospect of being returned to profitability, even with material rent reductions”.
Before the insolvency, Ted Baker had 46 UK stores and employed around 975 people.
Authentic Brands, the US-based firm behind Juicy Couture and Reebok, is still the owner of Ted Baker’s intellectual property. It is “currently in the process” of finding a new partner to run the Ted Baker retail and online business in the UK and Europe.
The 11 Ted Baker stores to be shut by April 19 are:
- Birmingham Bullring
- Bristol
- Bromley
- Cambridge
- Exeter
- Leeds
- Liverpool One
- London Bridge
- Milton Keynes
- Nottingham
- Oxford
The remaining stores set to close “in the coming weeks” are:
- Bicester
- London Brompton Road
- London Floral Street
- Manchester Trafford
Benji Dymant, joint administrator, said: “Ted Baker is an iconic British brand with strong partners around the world.
“These store closures, whilst with a regrettable impact on valued team members, will improve the performance of the business, as Authentic continues to progress discussions with potential UK and European operating partners for the Ted Baker brand to bring the business back to health.
“We would like to thank Ted Baker team members and partners for their ongoing efforts and support at this difficult time.”
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