The boss of a much-loved Edinburgh clothing chain has blamed the Scottish Government for their lack of support, as she was forced to close half of her shops.
Karen Forret, the managing director at Wilkies, fought to save six of the 11 stores in Scotland after dealing with trading issues and spiralling business rats. 40 of the 95 people employed by Wilkies had to be let go, reports the Scottish Daily Express.
Ms Forret said: "We put up a good fight to keep all our teams in jobs and keep trading on high streets some had long given up on many years before, but sadly without eventually having to shut all the stores we couldn’t continue in our current form.”
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The Edinburgh-based chain, which sells both ladies and menswear, has been a feature on Scottish high streets since 1898. King Charles and Queen Camilla have shopped at the outlet in Ballater in Aberdeenshire.
Retailers have all been forced to change because of post-Covid pressures and the rising cost of living in addition to supply chain and staffing issues. Responding with relief action for retailers during tough times would show the Scottish Government means business, says Ms Forret.
The SNP-run executive says is awaiting findings the New Deal for Business Group and the Tax Advisory Group which examine non-domestic, or business rates. But for some High Street services this is not is not coming quickly enough.
Ms Forret added: "We all came together during Covid whilst fighting for equal grants being offered to businesses everywhere else in the UK, but not Scotland.
"Again we find ourselves in the same situation, fighting to keep our economy thriving, people in jobs and our high streets alive. Fighting for 2023 rates relief every other business in the UK is benefiting from. But not in Scotland."
After Wilkies Limited went into administration last week, six of the company's stores were sold to a new business, Wilkies Trading Limited.
"Unfortunately, sales did not recover to pre-pandemic levels in some locations and this, coupled with rising labour and energy costs, led to the Company incurring significant losses", the administrators said.
The six surviving stores are in Largs, Castle Douglas, Peebles, Perth, Helensburgh and Ballater, where Charles and Camilla were pictured on a shopping trip in 2017.
However, four stores in Edinburgh, North Berwick, Hamilton and Falkirk will close with immediate effect, while the Kirkcaldy store will stay open for a short period in order to sell stock.
Meanwhile Becky Lumsden, chief executive of Pure Spa and Beauty appealed directly to Mr Yousaf over the issue.
She said: "The Scottish retail hospitality and leisure sectors continue to suffer, with jobs and livelihoods in local communities lost due to the burden of paying four times the business rates taxes of comparable businesses in England."
Tom Arthur, public finance minister said: “The Scottish Government has set out a strong non-domestic rates relief package in 2023-24, including the most generous rates relief for small businesses in the UK which takes over 100,000 properties out of rates all together."
