Three Claire's stores in North Wales at risk of closing
Interpath later confirmed Will Wright and Chris Pole had been appointed joint administrators.
The administrators are set to seek a potential rescue deal for the chain, which has seen sales tumble in the face of recent weak consumer demand.
This all comes after the US-based Claire's group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a court in Delaware last week.
It is the second time the group has declared bankruptcy, after first filing for the process in 2018.
Chief executive of Claire's, Chris Cramer, said: 'This decision, while difficult, is part of our broader effort to protect the long-term value of Claire's across all markets.
'In the UK, taking this step will allow us to continue to trade the business while we explore the best possible path forward.
"We are deeply grateful to our employees, partners and our customers during this challenging period.'
Claire's currently has 306 stores across the UK and Ireland - 278 in the UK and 28 in Ireland, while it has more than 2,150 employees.
All these stores and jobs are now at risk, following Wednesday's administration update.
There are three Claire's stores in South Wales that are at risk of closing:
Claire's has revealed that for now, all its UK and Ireland stores will remain open and staff will stay in their current positions.
Interpath said Mr Wright and Mr Pole will be contacting all of Claire's employees in the UK and Ireland to 'provide further information about what the administration means for them'.
RECOMMENDED READING:
The major high street brand stores closing in September from Poundland to M&S
Full list of every Hobbycraft store closing down - See if your local is shutting
Santander closing Flintshire branch within hours - how you'll be affected
Mr Wright, UK chief executive at Interpath, said: 'Claire's has long been a popular brand across the UK, known not only for its trend-led accessories but also as the go-to destination for ear piercing.
'Over the coming weeks, we will endeavour to continue to operate all stores as a going concern for as long as we can, while we assess options for the company.
'This includes exploring the possibility of a sale which would secure a future for this well-loved brand.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
7 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Poundland is shutting 15 stores in just HOURS after unveiling tranche of closures – is one going near you?
Scroll to see the full list of closures SALE AWAY Poundland is shutting 15 stores in just HOURS after unveiling tranche of closures – is one going near you? POUNDLAND will be shutting a further 15 stores in a matter of hours in another tranche of closures for the budget retailer. This comes after the beloved British store confirmed it would be shuttering 48 locations this month. 2 Poundland will be shuttering a further 15 stores in a matter of hours Credit: Alamy 2 The budget retailer is set to close more stores later this month Credit: Splash Advertisement Huge clearance sales have been well underway this week, with shoppers bagging items for as little as 50p ahead of the closures. Tomorrow, 15 branches are expected to permanently cease trading, in what is a massive blow for its customers and for UK high streets. The closures come as Polish owner Pepco Group sold Poundland to a US investment firm Gordon Brothers for £1 after a downturn in trading. Major restructuring plans have followed which include the closure of a whopping 68 stores by mid-October. Advertisement Among the stores closing tomorrow are branches in Sunderland, Poole, and Falmouth. Other sites across Newcastle, Coventry and Canterbury will also cease trading later this month. These closures follow the shuttering of ten stores earlier this month. Darren MacDonald, retail director at Poundland, said: "While our anticipated network of around 650-700 stores remains sizeable, it is of course, sincerely regrettable that we're closing a number of stores to allow us to get us back on track. Advertisement "We entirely understand how disappointing it will be for customers when a store nearby closes, but we look forward to continuing to welcome them to one of our other locations. "Work is underway to with colleagues through a formal consultation process in stores scheduled to close, exploring any suitable alternative roles." Poundland to be sold for JUST £1 as frontrunner for shock takeover is revealed after wave of store closures The following Poundland stores will close permanently on August 17: Bedford Bidston Moss Broxburn Craigavon Dartmouth East Dulwich Falmouth Hull St Andrews Newtonabbey Perth Poole Sunderland Stafford Thornaby Worcester An additional 12 locations will shut on August 24: Brigg Canterbury Coventry Newcastle Kings Heath Peterborough Peterlee Rainham Salford Sheldon Wells Whitechapel Finally, on August 31, the following branches will also close: Advertisement Blackburn Cookstown Erdington Kimberley Kimberley Shopping Centre, Nottingham Horsham Hull Holderness Kettering Omagh Shepherds Bush Southport Taunton Currently, Poundland operates 800 stores nationwide, but the company hopes to significantly reduce this number to between 650 and 700. This includes the 68 stores closing as part of the restructuring, as well as additional stores shutting when leases expire and are not renewed. These restructuring plans were outlined in June by the investment firm Gordon Brothers. This came after the company was sold to the firm that month as part of a deal that included major restructuring and an £80million cash injection. Plans include the shuttering of a total of 68 sites, as well as the closure of its frozen and digital distribution centre in Darton, South Yorkshire, later this year. Advertisement The firm also plans to shut its national distribution centre in Bilston, West Midlands, by early 2026. Poundland will also stop selling products online and focus on expanding its womenswear and seasonal ranges. These changes, except for the 49 store closures, are still subject to High Court approval later this month. Poundland was put up for auction in March by its previous owner, Pepco, after the brand experienced weak sales. The Polish company reported a 6.5% decline in Poundland's revenue, dropping to £830million for the six months to March compared to the previous year. Advertisement Pepco cited "highly challenging trading conditions" for the drop, with Poundland facing struggles across all product categories and experiencing 18 net store closures during that period.
The Sun
7 hours ago
- The Sun
Poundland is shutting 15 stores in just HOURS after unveiling tranche of closures – is one going near you?
POUNDLAND will be shutting a further 15 stores in a matter of hours in another tranche of closures for the budget retailer. This comes after the beloved British store confirmed it would be shuttering 48 locations this month. 2 2 Huge clearance sales have been well underway this week, with shoppers bagging items for as little as 50p ahead of the closures. Tomorrow, 15 branches are expected to permanently cease trading, in what is a massive blow for its customers and for UK high streets. The closures come as Polish owner Pepco Group sold Poundland to a US investment firm Gordon Brothers for £1 after a downturn in trading. Major restructuring plans have followed which include the closure of a whopping 68 stores by mid-October. Among the stores closing tomorrow are branches in Sunderland, Poole, and Falmouth. Other sites across Newcastle, Coventry and Canterbury will also cease trading later this month. These closures follow the shuttering of ten stores earlier this month. Darren MacDonald, retail director at Poundland, said: "While our anticipated network of around 650-700 stores remains sizeable, it is of course, sincerely regrettable that we're closing a number of stores to allow us to get us back on track. "We entirely understand how disappointing it will be for customers when a store nearby closes, but we look forward to continuing to welcome them to one of our other locations. "Work is underway to with colleagues through a formal consultation process in stores scheduled to close, exploring any suitable alternative roles." Poundland to be sold for JUST £1 as frontrunner for shock takeover is revealed after wave of store closures The following Poundland stores will close permanently on August 17: Bedford Bidston Moss Broxburn Craigavon Dartmouth East Dulwich Falmouth Hull St Andrews Newtonabbey Perth Poole Sunderland Stafford Thornaby Worcester An additional 12 locations will shut on August 24: Brigg Canterbury Coventry Newcastle Kings Heath Peterborough Peterlee Rainham Salford Sheldon Wells Whitechapel Finally, on August 31, the following branches will also close: Blackburn Cookstown Erdington Kimberley Kimberley Shopping Centre, Nottingham Horsham Hull Holderness Kettering Omagh Shepherds Bush Southport Taunton Currently, Poundland operates 800 stores nationwide, but the company hopes to significantly reduce this number to between 650 and 700. This includes the 68 stores closing as part of the restructuring, as well as additional stores shutting when leases expire and are not renewed. These restructuring plans were outlined in June by the investment firm Gordon Brothers. This came after the company was sold to the firm that month as part of a deal that included major restructuring and an £80million cash injection. Plans include the shuttering of a total of 68 sites, as well as the closure of its frozen and digital distribution centre in Darton, South Yorkshire, later this year. The firm also plans to shut its national distribution centre in Bilston, West Midlands, by early 2026. Poundland will also stop selling products online and focus on expanding its womenswear and seasonal ranges. These changes, except for the 49 store closures, are still subject to High Court approval later this month. Poundland was put up for auction in March by its previous owner, Pepco, after the brand experienced weak sales. The Polish company reported a 6.5% decline in Poundland's revenue, dropping to £830million for the six months to March compared to the previous year. Pepco cited "highly challenging trading conditions" for the drop, with Poundland facing struggles across all product categories and experiencing 18 net store closures during that period. Why are retailers closing stores? RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis. High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going. However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector. The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024. End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker. It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date. This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023. It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns. The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker. Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations. Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes. Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
Spectator
11 hours ago
- Spectator
The 12 minutes of the Trump-Putin summit that shook the world
The Trump-Putin press conference in Anchorage was 12 minutes that shook the world. Putin got precisely what he wanted, which was full personal rehabilitation as a respectable world leader. Donald Trump literally rolled out the red carpet for Putin and at the presser said that he had 'always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir.' And though no deal was done over Ukraine, what Putin achieved was something far more valuable – a re-set of relations between Russia and the US. Putin admitted that bilateral ties had fallen to the 'lowest point since the Cold War' but called for both sides to move on. 'Not far from here lies the international date line where one can literally step from yesterday into tomorrow,' said Putin. He spoke of a 'constructive atmosphere of mutual respect,' of 'mutually beneficial and equal ties' and twice called the newly reset relationship with America 'businesslike'. Trump, for his part, praised both Putin and his team of 'tremendous Russian business representatives.' True, a planned lunch for the two delegations and a second, expanded round of talks was cancelled. Three of the five senior economics officials that Putin had brought didn't get to sit down with their US counterparts. But that was because the Russians decided that they had already got what they had come for. 'The way that it felt in the room… like Putin came in and steamrolled,' reported Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich. Putin 'got right into what he wanted to say and got his photo next to the president and then left.' Though no deal was reached, Putin did come away from the summit with one very significant practical victory. The Anchorage summit effectively swept away all of Trump's previous ultimatums and threats of 'severe consequences' and replaced them with an open-ended negotiation framework that buys Putin time. More, Putin was able to pretend to be seeking peace and negotiation while in reality escalating offensive operations in Ukraine. And perhaps most important of all Putin made clear that he was not interested in a ceasefire but rather a comprehensive peace deal to be negotiated even as his forces continue their grinding advance in Donbas. And Putin clearly believes that Trump will be a pushover at the negotiating table. 'Trump may sincerely want to end the war, but he does not have the mental capacity to negotiate with Putin,' wrote Janis Kluge of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. 'You can't be tough if you don't understand the nuances of the issue you are negotiating. The result is that [Trump] gets manipulated.' What was striking was how carefully the Kremlin had planned the choreography of the summit. The very location of Alaska – loaded with symbolism not only of a lost Russian Empire but also of second world war US-Soviet cooperation – was the idea of veteran Russian diplomat Yury Ushakov. Meeting at the point of the North Pacific where Russia and America nearly touch also allowed Putin to greet Trump as his 'dear neighbour'. Enroute to the summit Putin stopped off at the former Gulag town of Magadan and there laid flowers at a monument to Soviet and American soldiers who were killed ferrying thousands of American planes gifted under Lend-Lease to the Soviet war effort. The symbolism was clear. Putin was honouring the men who died 'for our common victory' over Nazism, he told reporters. By implication, the US and Russia could unite again to oppose the supposedly Nazi regime in Kyiv. Putin's talking points were also precisely measured. He knows exactly what to say to please Trump, from confirming that the war would not have started if Trump had been president in 2022, to agreeing with Trump that Russian electoral interference in the 2016 US election was a 'hoax'. Appealing to Trump's greed, Putin spoke of the 'tremendous potential' for business cooperation. And to the outrage of many Ukrainians, Putin called the war that he himself started a 'terrible tragedy for us' and a 'wound' and insisted that Russians considered Ukrainians a 'brotherly nation'. That is a clear echo of a common Russian narrative that the war was fomented by western interference in Kyiv's affairs. It was also clear that the Kremlin's position has barely changed since 2022. When Putin speaks of the 'root causes' of the conflict he is saying that he sees an independent Ukraine that has the ability to defend itself is a fundamental threat to Russia. When he calls for a 'fair balance of security' Putin means restrictions on Nato deployments in the Baltics, Poland and Romania. Small wonder that ultranationalist Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin called the summit 'excellent… the best result that we could expect!' Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán wrote that 'the world is a safer place today than it was yesterday' as a result of the summit. The big question now is whether Trump will follow up by putting more pressure on Russia – or more pressure on Ukraine to capitulate. Trump will meet with Zelensky on Monday in the Oval Office to discuss what Trump called 'points that we negotiated [with Putin] and points that we largely have agreed upon. I think we have agreed on a lot… Ukraine has to agree to it, maybe they'll say no.' For Zelensky, the choice will be to agree to the terms Trump negotiated over his head – or refuse, and try to fight on with European help. Unfortunately for Ukraine, Putin doesn't seem to care whether the endgame of the war plays out on the negotiating table or the battlefield. Putin believes that he can win either way.
