Barratts collapse to cost 1,600 jobs

Around 1,600 jobs are to go at shoe retailer Barratts Priceless after attempts to find a buyer for the concessions business failed, administrators said today.

It was announced last week that nearly 200 jobs were being lost with the closure of 18 stores in Ireland and the UK.

Administrator Deloitte said it would continue to trade the remaining 173 stores as it sought a buyer for all or parts of the business as a going concern.

But it said today that it had been unsuccessful in finding a buyer for the concession business. The concessions are mainly in Dorothy Perkins and Outfit stores.

A spokeswoman for the administrators said later that the 359 concessions in Dorothy Perkins and Outfit would close. There are 15 further concessions, which are unaffected.

The administrators said failure to find a buyer for the concessions “will unfortunately result in redundancies of Barratts Priceless staff across units in the UK and the Republic of Ireland”.

The shoe chain collapsed into administration earlier this month, after unseasonably mild weather further exacerbated already difficult trading conditions.