Carpetright has been saved from administration but 213 stores will close across the country, including 23 in London. The flooring and bed retailer has been bought in a rescue deal by rival Tapi but is having to cut more than 1,000 jobs in the process.
Tapi has agreed to take on 54 stores and two warehouses but hundreds of stores are expected to close in a matter of days, including those on Croydon’s Purley Way, on Bromley High Street, in Ealing Common, Staples Corner and Romford. Administrators at PwC said the deal will save more than 308 current jobs at Carpetright.
Carpetright filed a notice to appoint administrators earlier this month, after struggling in the face of weaker demand and a major cyber attack in April. The company employed 1,852 people and operated 273 stores across the UK before entering insolvency but 1,018 workers will face immediate redundancy across its stores which were not part of the rescue deal.
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Zel Hussain, joint administrator at PwC, said: “The sale of some stores and the brand to Tapi has allowed over 300 jobs to be saved, and gives the Carpetright brand the chance to continue and flourish under its new ownership. However, it is deeply saddening that for the remainder of the workforce there will be redundancies. We are committed to helping those affected and will make sure redundancy claims are processed as quickly as possible.”
What is happening to orders made at branches closing
The administrators said orders made at stores now set for closure “are unable to be fulfilled” recommended customers to contact their card provider in order to potentially secure a refund. Tapi was founded in 2015 by Lord Harris of Peckham, who also founded Carpetright. He sold all his stock in Carpetright in 2014.
Tapi has grown rapidly in recent years and runs about 175 shops across the UK. Jeevan Karir, managing director of Tapi Carpets & Floors, said: “Our goal, initially, was to try to save all of Carpetright. However, as we looked into the details of the situation, we quickly established that saving the entire business was unviable.”
Mr Karir added that Tapi was “mindful of how the competition authorities would look at any deal” when assessing how many stores it could save through a rescue deal. Nestware chief executive Kevin Barrett said: “Our focus over the last week has been to secure external investment to ensure job security for a number of our Carpetright colleagues up and down the country.
“Whilst we succeeded in finding a buyer, the deal is limited to a select number of stores rather than the business as a whole and will sadly impact a large number of colleagues and staff. We have tried everything to turn Carpetright around and I’m truly sorry that we were unable to save more jobs.”
Recently, Carpetright has suffered from weaker demand for carpets as homeowners shifted towards hard flooring, as well as a major cyber attack in April which halted trading. It said earlier this month that the cyber attack’s impact on sales affected efforts by the company to restructure its operations in recent months.
Here is a full list of the 23 London stores expected to close over the coming days, as provided by PwC.
Note: Stores written with ‘FV’ initials are based inside Furniture Village stores
Beckton – Beckton Triangle Retail Park
Brentford – Great West Trading Estate
Bromley – High Street
Chadwell Heath – High Road
Charlton – Stone Lake Retail Park
Colindale – The Hyde Retail Park
Croydon (FV) – Purley Way
Ealing Common – Uxbridge Road
Edmonton – Ravenside retail park
Enfield (FV) – Great Cambridge Rd
Feltham – Retail Park, High Street
Hammersmith – King Street
Kingston (FV) – Kingston Road, New Malden
Old Kent Road – Southernwood Retail Park
Orpington – Sevenoaks Way
Romford – Gallows Corner
Romford – Rom Valley
South Ruislip – Ruislip Retail Park
Staples Corner – Corner Retail Park
Streatham – The High Parade
Sutton – High Street
Walworth – Camberwell Road
West Drayton – Zodiac Business Park
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