High street retailer M&Co will close 170 of its stores across the UK
High street retailer M&Co will start closing 170 of its stores across the UK a few days after the troubled chain collapsed into administration
- The first stores will close their doors for good in parts of Scotland at the end of this month.
- The 170 stores will eventually close after managers sold the retailer’s brand.
Fashion giant M&Co will start closing its 170 UK stores in a matter of days in another devastating blow to Britain’s beleaguered high streets.
Plummeting sales and rising costs sent the struggling retailer into trouble, and Teneo managers confirmed last month that it had sold the M&Co brand, but not the company’s stores.
Now around 1,900 jobs will be cut across the country as retailer branches close forever, with some stores already confirming when their last day will be on social media.
The fashion giant, formerly named Mackay’s, fell into administration for the second time in two years in December 2022. Teneo sold the brand and intellectual property to Yours Clothing.
Among the first stores to close are M&Co’s Wick and Fort William sites in Scotland, with its last day of operations taking place on Saturday 25 March.
Britain’s struggling high streets have been dealt another blow as it was announced tonight that fashion giant M&Co will close 170 stores, putting 1910 jobs at risk.
The closures were confirmed on both stores’ Facebook pages, with M&Co’s Wick site saying: “The day we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived, and we can now confirm that the last trading day for our Wick branch will be Saturday, March 25.
‘We won’t be getting any more stock in the store, so hurry up and grab your favorite items before they’re gone!
“We’d like to thank you for your support during our tenure and look forward to seeing everyone in the store before we say goodbye.”
M&Co’s Thurso branch in Scotland will also close before the end of the month, with The Sun reporting that it will close on Tuesday 28 March.
The shutters will close at six more stores on April 1 in Lewes, Gosport in Hampshire, Belper, Beccles, Newquay and Lerwick.
In a post on Gosport’s Facebook page, the site’s store manager said: “It is with great sadness that I can now announce that our last trading day at M&CO Gosport will be Saturday, April 1, 2023.
‘We will definitely miss each of our many lovely customers that we have won over so many years, many generations of customers have shopped with us.
‘I’d like to say thank you for all the kind and thoughtful things our clients have said to us since they found out we were in office last December.
‘We’ve got some great deals in store so please don’t be strangers…it’s going fast…with too many fantastic bargains.
‘Thank you from Karen and the Gosport team.’
Teneo, the manager of M&Co, said more stores will close as stocks run out. But no exact date has been given for when the brand will completely disappear from the high street.
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