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How cruel that quarter rent day is on Christmas day. When tills should be ringing, for some, there may only be the sound of doors slamming shut, including high street footwear retailer Barratts.
Following the recent news of collapse of Barratts Priceless for the second time, FSP has reviewed and updated the retailer records on SnapShop. Below is a summary of the retailer profile and highlights of the administration:
26/01/2009 - Shoe retailer Stylo's Barratts and Priceless Shoes collapsed into administration
19/02/2009 - The Ziff family rescued 160 Barratts and Priceless shops, , the remaining 220 stores were closed
20/03/2009 - Barratts Priceless appointed property agent CB Richard Ellis to renegotiate terms on the 160 stores it bought out of administration
19/03/2010 - Footwear retailer unveiled a new look for its Oxford Street flagship store
18/05/2010 – Barratts launched its first iPhone App and had plans to roll-out click & collect, targeted SMS marketing and promotions
3/12/2010 - Barratts has appointed John Hood, former managing director of footwear retailer Brantano, to the newly created role of brand director
8/12/2011 - The consolidated results for the 18 month period ending 31st July 2010 showed an operating profit after exceptional items of £8.6m from sales of £218.5m
10/02/2011 - Barratts has increased its email conversion rates after an overhaul of its e-commerce strategy
8/12/2011 – Reduced trading, increasing competition threatened Barratts ability to pay December’s quarterly rent bill, leading to collapse of chain thereby putting 3,840 jobs at risk. Given the gloomy economic backdrop, retail analysts are not confident that a buyer for the chain will be found
From the retailer’s own website, “On December 2011, Daniel Francis Butlers, Neville Barry Kahn and Adrian Peter Berry were appointed Joint Administrators and now manage the affairs, business and property of the Companies in Administration. The Joint Administrators act as agents of the Companies and contract without personal liability. The Joint Administrators are authorised by the Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. All licensed insolvency practitioners of Deloitte LLP are licensed in UK”.
With worsening consumer confidence, the run-up to Christmas is bound to bring more pain for the retail sector - how deep that pain will go? could this be avoided?
SnapShop provides information on 2,000+ retail fascias, including the Barratts fascias: Priceless, Shellys, Bacon Shoes
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