MORE than 20 jobs will be lost at two stores in the West Midlands run by fashion brand Henley’s Clothing.
The company’s retail arm, which runs units in Birmingham’s Bullring and Dudley’s Merry Hill Centre under the brand name ‘Henleys’, has closed with 23 redundancies in total.
Nationwide, the Manchester-based company is closing 18 stores and losing 204 jobs.
Ernst and Young partners Simon Allport and Tom Jack have been appointed administrators of subsidiary Henley’s Retail after poor trading and high lease costs.
The firm said the decision would allow Henley’s, owned by entrepreneur Ben Luscombe, to focus on its core business, Henley’s Clothing, which supplies a number of major UK retailers as well as over 200 independent stores in the UK and overseas.
Chief executive David Inglis said: “When I joined Henley’s Clothing last year, my remit was to carry out a strategic review of the company and as a result we have decided to focus the business on its main wholesale operation.
“In addition to the continuing growth of online sales, the wholesale side of the business is seeing expansion overseas, specifically from Australia, Canada and mainland Europe. We are also investing significantly in a brand relaunch in July.
“Unfortunately, the retail side of the business has been suffering from poor trading conditions due to fragile consumer confidence and from onerous leases agreed at the height of the market.”
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