22 Zavvi stores close
THE administrators of entertainment retailer Zavvi have announced the immediate closure of 22 stores, including two in the North West.
The closures means 178 people will be made redundant. Of the 11 North West stores, the Clayton Square branch in Liverpool and the Salford Quays branch will both close with the loss of 28 and five jobs respectively.
Manchester-based joint administrators Tom Jack, Simon Allport and Alan Hudson of Ernst & Young will continue to trade the remaining 92 stores throughout the UK.
Mr Jack said: “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.
“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.”
He added that 60 expressions of interest had been made so far, which the administrators are actively pursuing.
Zavvi was formed from a management buyout of Virgin Megastores last year. It was the UK’s largest independent entertainment retailer selling CDs and DVDs at 114 stores across the UK. It had 3,400 staff, 1,052 of them temporary.
It suffered when its main supplier, Woolworths-owned Entertainment UK, went into administration in November. The business was forced to find new suppliers and struggled to arrange favourable credit terms.
