Founded in 1979, Nottinghamshire-based JTF Mega Discount Warehouse had been a mainstay across the North East selling thousands of lines in Home & Garden, DIY, Electrical, Furniture, Toys, Pet, Toiletries, Cleaning, Sports & Leisure.
In 2020, it revealed plans to open 40 new stores and create more than 1,400 new jobs – and float on the stock market in 2023.
It launched a crowdfunding campaign to help fund its ambitions, and give investors a chance to own a stake in the company prior to it going public.
Based in Tuxford, Notts, it started out 40 years ago as a “one-man-band” selling watches out of a barber shop but a year later in 2021, it collapsed into administration with the closure of its 14 stores and the loss of around 500 jobs.
At the time, a statement issued on behalf of the company said that the pandemic had played a big role in its demise, with the forced closure of stores wiping out fireworks and Christmas sales which were “two of the largest seasonal items for JTF”.
It was bought out of administration by Bargain Buys, a subsidiary of Poundstretcher in September.
What happened next?
Poundstretcher co-owner and chief executive Aziz Tayub sounded a hopeful tone in September last year when he announced the purchase which he said had secured the jobs of 230 people and would lead to the opening of 15 more branches.
The new owners planned to reopen the closed JTF stores straight away.
But branches in Preston, Sheffield Warrington never re-opened.
What has happened to the rest of the stores?
Mr Tayub revealed in an exclusive interview with BusinessLive that it was forced to close most of the stores it had re-opened because the 'big-shed format' hadn't suited the Poundstretcher model in the face of high rates and rents.
Stores in Leeds, Lincoln, Hull and Newcastle upon Tyne are among those now closed.
Stores in Margate and Merthyr Tydfil have been moved to existing Poundstretcher shops.
He said that Poundstretcher had stepped in because management were keen to test the water of the “big shed format” that JTF and other retailers used.
Mr Tayub said: “Basically the rents and rates were too high, so we have moved some of the JTF store ranges into our own stores.
“They include a store Merthyr Tydfil, because the JTF store because you can’t have rates and rents of £400,000 per store. We’ve moved others too and some we have closed.
“The original plan had been to see what it was like running big JTF sheds but they were too big for us and we don’t have a big enough range to fill them. We are better at medium sized or smaller stores.
“We have taken some of the staff on, but some were not able to move. There were not many. The people we had in JTF had been employed on a temporary basis so we could see how it went.
“Taking on the business was a good idea – we’ve learned a lot from them and have got a good range of products now because of them."
Are any stores still open?
There are just two JTF-branded stores still open in Kidderminster and Hucknall.
My Tayub indicated that the stores could 'move', potentially going under the Poundstretcher brand.
