Popular fashion retailer to disappear off the high street forever and shut 170 shops
A POPULAR fashion retailer is going to close 170 of its high street shops.
The M&Co brand has been bought by Yours Clothing, according to Drapers.
A spokesman from Teneo confirmed the sale of M&Co brand and intellectual property to Yours Clothing but not the stores.
The Peterborough-based group also owns menswear line BadRhino, womenswear retailer Long Tall Sally and maternity brand Bump It Up Maternity.
An insider source also told The Sun that the sale of the brand means M&Co’s 170 shops will close forever, putting 1,910 jobs at risk.
The retailer, previously called Mackay’s fell in to administration for the second time in two years at the start of December.
Administrators at Teneo put the bust business up for sale with an auction deadline for interested buyers.
They blame M&Co’s collapse on the sharp rise in costs while squeezed household budgets have also depressed sales.
At the time that it fell into administration online clothes are being discounted at 50%off , while in shops items have 25% promotions.
Industry experts also said at the time that M&Co had not attracted high street players such as Frasers, Next and Marks & Spencer who have recently swooped on bust retailers.
Turnaround firm Hilco, which had financed the business in a pre-pack deal in 2020, has since had all of its debt repaid and is not interested in buying the business.
M&Co isn’t the only store to go into administration and shut its shop doors.
Stationery retailer Paperchase collapsed into administration this week after it failed to find a buyer.
Supermarket giant Tesco quickly stepped up to buy rights to the brand, as they plan to sell Paperchase items in stores.
When a business is liquidated, they will look to sell stock for as much as possible to pay back creditors.
Stores may disappear off the high street within weeks but the process could take up to two months.
Major burger chain Byron Burger also recently fell into administration and is set to close nine restaurants immediately.
Further popular chains including Las Iguanas, Cafe Rouge and Bella Italia also fell victim to the pandemic.
In December 2022, pub chain Wetherspoons announced it would be closing a total of 39 pubs after being hit by soaring inflation.
While H&M also announced it would be shutting a handful of its stores.
H&M has closed branches in recent months, with more to follow this year.
H&M has confirmed to The Sun that two branches in Hartlepool and Isle of Wight are set to close.
It hasn’t given a date for when they will shut the doors for good or if workers are at risk of redundancy.
Refund rights online v in store
If you bought the item online, then M&Co should provide you with a full cash refund.
Of course, the item needs to be in its original condition and you will have to send it back yourself via Royal Mail for free – if you use other couriers then you’ll have to pay.
If you purchased online and want a refund in store, you’ll only get a gift card or be offered exchange.
But if you purchased in store, then M&Co will give you the chance to exchange the product for an item of the same value.
This may vary from shop to shop and of course, sometimes stores may honour a full refund anyway, but they aren’t obliged to.
Gift cards – your rights explained
When a company goes into administration, the people appointed to manage the process can decide whether to allow the use of gift cards or not.
While we don’t know what the administrators for M&Co will decide it might be best to use any cards you have lying around as soon as possible.
The administrators are allowed to stop accepting gift cards at any point.
If the administrators later decide that you can’t use your vouchers, you should register a claim with the administrators for the value of the vouchers.
This also applies if the company can’t be saved through administration and is later liquidated.
However, you may not get this money back if other creditors are owed money too. You may also only get a portion of the money back.
If the voucher or amount put on a gift card was for more than £100, then it may be possible to claim the money back if it was purchased with a credit card.
This is because the card company is jointly liable under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
If the voucher was a gift, then you’d need to ask the person who bought it for you to claim the money back.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk