Yorkshire jobs go as administrators close 22 Zavvi stores

ADMINISTRATORS have confirmed that 22 Zavvi stores are to close immediately with the loss of 178 jobs.

Among those shutting for good are stores in York at the McArthur Glen and Castleford outlets, and Huddersfield.

A total of 22 employees of the music, games and DVD chain will be made redundant.

A spokesman said that administrators would continue to trade the remaining 92 stores and that futher reductions on already discounted prices would be made with 20 to 50% off all product lines from Friday.

He added that they were working closely with the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payment Office and Job Centre Plus to provide support and advice to all employees made redundant, including a fast track process for paying redundancy entitlements.

Tom Jack, joint administrator from Ernst & Young, added: “Despite record consumer demand since Christmas it is no longer possible to support continued trading across all of the Zavvi stores. 

“Unfortunately the current difficulties faced on the UK high street seem to be discouraging retailers from investing in a significant number of new stores.”

He added: “However, we intend to continue to trade the remaining Zavvi portfolio with a view to selling all or part of the Zavvi business as a going concern. 

“So far we have received 60 expressions of interest which we continue to actively pursue. We are extremely grateful to the staff and management at all stores and the head office for their fantastic support throughout this difficult time.”

Zavvi announced it had called in the administrators on Christmas eve citing the demise of Woolworths as a key reason for its financial troubles.

The chain’s main supplier was Woolworths’ unit Entertainment UK, which went into administration on November 27.

Before the store closures it employed 2,363 permanent staff and 1,052 temporary staff.