TED Baker is at risk of vanishing from the high street forever as administrators plan to shut all its shops within the next three weeks.
Staff at the troubled retail chain have been given just three weeks’ notice that they will be losing their jobs when the shops are closed.
The plans have not been finalised but sources confirmed this was the current intention for the business.
A spokesman for the administrators declined to comment.
Ted Baker fell into administration earlier this year after a deal went sour between its American owners, Authentic Brands, and a Dutch operating partner that was meant to run the store operations.
Administrators at Teneo have been trying to find a rescue buyer for the business, but it is understood that House of Fraser, owned by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group pulled out of early talks.
When Ted Baker fell into administration in March it employed 975 people and had 46 shops in the UK and Europe.
Administrators have already closed 15 stores across the UK with the loss of 245 jobs.
But it had been hoped that the remaining stores would stay open.
Shoppers have spotted huge clearance sales at Ted Baker sites across the country, although at the time administrators denied it was part of the administration process.
The collapse of Ted Baker is a sad decline for a fashion brand that a decade ago was one of the strongest names in the retail sector with 550 shops and concessions around the world.
The brand never fully recovered from the ousting of its founder, Ray Kelvin, over “forced hugging” allegations in 2018.
When new management took over, a big accounting error was discovered which weakened the retailer’s finances and made a turnaround more challenging.
It then struggled during the pandemic and the shift to online shopping.
By the time Authentic Brands took Ted Baker private in a £212million takeover in 2022 the business had lost 98 per cent of its value.
Authentic Brands owns Juicy Couture and Reebok as well as the royalty rights to Marilyn Monroe’s estate.
Full list of Ted Baker stores which have shut
THESE are the locations of the stores which have already closed:
- Heathrow T2
- Heathrow T5
- Heathrow T3
- Regent Street
- Luton
- Stansted
- Gatwick North
- Gatwick South
- Heathrow T4
- Cheshire Oaks
- St Pancras
- Belfast
- O2 Outlet
- Bluewater
- Bath
- Brent Cross
- White City
- Gloucester Quays
- Cannock
- Livingston
- Portsmouth
- Braintree
- Manchester Shambles
- Sheffield
- Bridgend
- Ashford
- York
- Glasgow Buchanan Street
- Swindon
- Kildare
- Dublin, Grafton Street
What other chains have collapsed in recent years?
Most recently, Carpetright filed a notice to appoint administrators on July 12.
Flooring retailer Tapi then struck a multimillion-pound rescue deal to save the brand and dozens of stores.
Tapi has agreed to purchase 54 of the ailing chain’s stores and two warehouses in a pre-pack administration deal that will save 300 jobs.
However, the deal does not include 200 other stores which face an uncertain future, and over 1,000 job losses are on the cards.
We have seen several big losses in the last few years including popular discounter Wilko.
Following several failed rescue bids, fellow bargain chain The Range bought Wilko‘s name and intellectual property.
CDS Superstores, trading as The Range and Wilko, relaunched the latter’s website before relaunching stores as well.
Fans of Paperchase were devastated when the retailer disappeared from the high street in April last year.
It fell into administration in February after failing to find a buyer.
This led to the closure of all of its 134 shops including concessions stands in Next and Selfridges, with 900 job losses.
Supermarket giant Tesco bought the rights to the brand and announced earlier this month that it would be returning to hundreds of stores.
Health and beauty chain The Body Shop fell into administration early in 2024 and announced the closure of many of its 200 stores.
Almost 500 staff are set to lose their jobs after 75 stores were earmarked for closure.
Since then, it’s been confirmed that Aurea Holding, an investment business, is set to acquire The Body Shop after beating out competing bidders in an auction process.
M&Co fell into administration in 2022 but was expected to make a surprise comeback in autumn 2023.
Fellow retailer Yours Clothing bought the M&Co brand and intellectual property after the chain went into administration in December 2022.
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