The high street fashion chain Ted Baker is to close 15 stores across the UK with the loss of 245 jobs after falling into administration.
The company’s European retail and online arm appointed Teneo as administrators last month after the retailer, which has 46 stores in the UK and Europe, struggled with tough trading conditions and the fallout from the 2019 ousting of its founder, Ray Kelvin, after claims of a culture of “forced hugs” at the company. Ted Baker was then hit by the emergence of an accounting error and a string of profit warnings.
On Monday Teneo said 11 loss-making Ted Baker stores will shut by 19 April with the loss of 120 jobs. These include outlets in Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre and in Liverpool, Oxford, Leeds, Bristol, Milton Keynes and Nottingham. Teneo said that there was no prospect of returning the stores to profitability even with significant rent reductions. A further 25 roles will also go at head office to reduce costs.
Four more stores will shut in the coming weeks with the loss of about 100 jobs after landlords served notice on the outlets in Manchester, Bicester and two in central London.
Authentic Brands, the owner of the intellectual property of Ted Baker, is still continuing to seek a new operating partner for the retail and online business in the UK and Europe, Teneo has said.
Teneo’s Benji Dymant, the joint administrator of No Ordinary Designer Label, which is the retailer of the Ted Baker brand in the UK and Europe, said that the store closures were “regrettable”.
He added in a statement that the decision “will improve the performance of the business, as Authentic continues to progress discussions with potential UK and European operating partners for the Ted Baker brand to bring the business back to health”.
The closures are a further blow to the UK high street, which has been hit by a number of prominent retailers calling in administrators since the start of the year as consumers slashed spending amid a wider economic downturn.
The Body Shop closed a number of stores and shed 300 head office jobs after administrators FRP were appointed to the UK arm of the retailer in February. The luxury clothing retailer Matchesfashion cut 273 jobs – more than half its workforce – after its new owner, Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, called in administrators last month.
