Local stores part of Comet closures
STORES in Birmingham and Rugby are amongst those to be closed by struggling electrical retailer Comet, it has been announced.
Shops in Perry Barr and Selly Oak in Birmingham and the firm’s Rugby store will shut at the end of November unless a buyer can be found in the meantime.
The joint administrators of Comet have confirmed plans to close 41 Comet stores by the end of this month. A closing down sale with increased discounts has already begun in 27 stores including the three mentioned above.
More generous discounts will also be applied to products across all of the other 195 Comet stores, which continue to trade as usual.
The administrators say that while they will look to redeploy staff from any stores which do face closure to other stores nearby, there will inevitably be redundancies. A dedicated employee helpline is in place and the company is running an employee assistance programme to help those staff made redundant find other jobs.
The administrators say they are continuing to hold discussions with parties who have expressed interest in parts of the business.
Chris Farrington, joint administrator, said: “We are very grateful to the company’s employees for their professionalism, loyalty and support at this difficult time and all employees will of course continue to be paid for all the work they do while the company is in administration.”
Farrington, Neville Kahn and Nick Edwards, of accountancy and business advisory firm Deloitte, were appointed joint administrators to Comet on November 2.
