BESTSELLER RETAIL Ireland (Ltd), the company behind the fashion chains Vero Moda, Jack Jones, Only and Name It, has closed 11 of its stores “due to continued adverse trading conditions”, with the loss of 21 full-time jobs.
The move follows the closure of 14 of its stores in February, when the company went into interim examinership.
Two of the original 14 stores to have closed – the Vero Moda and Jack Jones outlets in Athlone Town Centre – have since reopened following the renegotiation of rents with the landlords.
However, the company, which is a subsidiary of Danish fashion giant Bestseller, said “the combined pressures of continued negative trading conditions and the high cost of renting premises” had forced it close another 10 of its stores in the Republic, as well as its Vero Moda store in Belfast.
The stores in the Republic that have closed include four based in the OmniPark shopping centre in Dublin. The Vero Moda, Jack Jones, Only and Name It stores at OmniPark have shut, as has the Name It store in Blanchardstown shopping centre.
Outside Dublin, the stores affected are the Vero Moda stores in Tralee, Dundalk, Limerick and Athlone’s Golden Island shopping centre. The Jack Jones store in Dundalk has also closed.
A total of 21 full-time staff and 37 part-time staff have lost their jobs as a result of Bestseller’s move. Out of its original tally of 36 stores in the Republic, 14 stores remain open.
An examiner was appointed to the company by the High Court on March 9th. The company, which has traded in Ireland since 1991, is seeking to negotiate “more realistic” rents with landlords.
“Our greatest challenge has been the extremely high rents that we have had to pay across all of our outlets in recent years,” said Bestseller Retail Ireland’s general manager Lucy O’Mahoney.
“In tandem with the fall in customer footfall and sales, this has restricted our cashflow and our ability to trade profitably, and has led us to our present position where we have had to repeatedly restructure the business for the sake of survival.”
Bestseller yesterday petitioned the High Court for permission to repudiate a number of lease agreements relating to its worst performing stores. The case was adjourned until next month.
Retail sector rents were yesterday discussed at the Joint Oireachtas Committee of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Grafton Street Tenants Association called on the committee to give tenants bound by leases containing upward-only rent review clauses the opportunity to purchase the freehold interest in their properties at market prices.
The Government should encourage a “pro-trade, pro-jobs” system of rents indexed annually to inflation, the association said.
