Liquidator appointed to companies behind Instore chain

A liquidator has been appointed to the companies behind Limerick furniture retailer Instore.

Creditors’ meetings were held in the Castle Oaks Hotel in Limerick on Monday, where Killarney-based liquidator Paul McSweeney was appointed to five companies behind Instore, most notably Instore Distribution Ltd, the main arm of the group.

Instore once boasted 140 staff in seven stores around Ireland. The company specialised in high-end furniture at affordable prices, and was founded by Limerick brothers John and Oliver Moloney in 1988. It began life with a single store in Limerick.

The Limerick City branch closed on Christmas Eve last year, while the City East depot on Limerick’s Ballysimon Road closed on Jan 22, seven days after the Galway branch was closed.

The creditors’ meetings were described by a company spokes- person as “very amicable”.

“The meetings went off without incident,” said the spokesperson. “Revenue were in attendance at all of them and there was only one other creditor present at each of the meetings.”

“All of the meetings were held in an amicable fashion where Oliver Moloney was the director present and he gave a full and frank account of the history of the company, its background and how it got to where it is today.

“The principal reasons for its demise were high rents, a collapse of the retail trade and bank borrowings.”

Mr Moloney’s personal liability was described as “substantial” and is believed to be in the order of seven figures. Mr Moloney is understood to have provided personal guarantees on bank loans made to Instore.

Ulster Bank appointed a receiver to Instore Dublin, an offshoot of the main company, in June of last year. Mr Moloney won a national award for retail excellence in 2009 for the Stillorgan branch of Instore.

The most recent accounts for the company filed with the CRO show that Instore Distribution Ltd, the main arm of the group, recorded losses of €1.7m in the 12 months to the end of Feb 2009.

The company spokesperson noted that employees had been “paid in full” and would receive statutory redundancy payments. Around 14 staff were affected by the final closure of the stores.