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FOUR MONSOON AND Accessorize stores are to close permanently in Ireland after administrators were appointed to the companies last night.
In total, 35 stores in the UK and Ireland will close, resulting in 545 job losses. The Irish stories are on Grafton Street in Dublin, Market Cross shopping centre in Kilkenny and two shops on Patrick Street in Cork.
Administrators from business advisory firm FRP were appointed last night and sold Monsoon Accessorize Limited and Accessorize Limited to Adena Brands, a company ultimately controlled by Peter Simon, founder of Monsoon.
FRP said the transaction includes the sale of the brands and intellectual property, its digital business, the head office and design teams, the group’s distribution centre in Northamptonshire, as well as the transfer of around 450 jobs.
“As part of the deal, Adena Brands has provided a £15m cash injection into the businesses to ensure that they can continue to trade without interruption,” it said.
The joint administrators will now work with Adena Brands as it negotiates the remaining 162 store leases with landlords. FRP said the transfer of leases could protect as many as 2,300 retail jobs.
The administration followed a strategic review by the companies as the current structure of the business was “unviable due to the impact of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown and effects of the closure of all their shops”. The companies’ directors subsequently decided to appoint administrators.
Tony Wright, joint administrator and partner at FRP, said: “We had to move quickly and decisively to secure the future of Monsoon and Accessorize, as many jobs as possible and the presence of these two iconic brands on the UK high street. After assessing a range of options this deal achieves those goals with least disruption to the business in an already challenging retail environment.
“We are now committed to working with Adena Brands as they enter talks with landlords to agree future terms across their store portfolio and look to transfer more jobs to the buyer. We’ll also be working with the Redundancy Payments Service to support all affected employees through this difficult time.”
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Cork’s Patrick Street is gonna look a lot different post-Covid.. it has lost Debenhams, Oasis, Monsoon, Accessorize now at this stage.
@Alan Barry: Patrick st has been neglected for years. Awear and Quills buildings are empty for years as well as a few smaller ones around that section. Depressing as even at the height of the recession in the 80s there was probably full occupancy.
@Alan Barry: Be grand. Few more Starbucks can fit in.
@Alan Barry: Had an idea it was closed as when passed it on way to work it looked empty like everything had already been removed from it.
@Alan Barry: it never properly recovered post 2008.
Grim
The list of shops closing on Patrick street in cork is beyond belief for a city
@christopher dyas: it is very run down now
Like something out of charles dickens
City council are like parasites
Sorry they are closing. Good that Dundrum store staying open at least.
We were working so hard with online shops and shopping centres outside towns to make Irish towns a collective of coffee shops and barbers. That lockdown and hesitation to buy from small towns could do the rest.
If you want a vibrant town centre keep buying from the small shops.
Hope nobody buys online from shops which have closed their doors in Ireland
@Ursula: stupid comment. If people don’t online from companies which closed physical outlets then they will buy online from other stores and lead them to close stores.
I think online anything is a poison and will destroy the way we interact and live.
It’s either don’t buy online from anyone or buy online.
@Joe: sorry joe , I find your comment stupid . How is buying online a poison and destructive to how “we”interact or live . My interaction and life does not rotate around retail . Perhaps yours does. Which is fair enough , just change that “we” to “I” and stop generalising . Good lad .
@Ursula: well said Ursula let’s keep it local
Anyone else think Brexit is to blame for this & not covid?
@Veronica: high rents probably didnt help
Greedy Landlords
I am not surprised Monsoon on Patrick street is closing it’s a terrible shop unit too narrow and dark it used to be a Burger Land I think then prior to that an Italian Restaurant and originally it was part of a hotel a long time ago I think some kind of Restaurant/Cafe would work better but Patrick Street suffers from really old dilapidated shop units and buildings there is not much you can do with them!
@Buster Cat: think it might have been part of Victoria Hotel as that was beside it
@Buster Cat: this clothes shop closed even with renovated shop unit
A combination of high rates, parking rates ,restricted driving through Patrick street, Rip off prices converted from the pound to the euro brexit and then covid it’s no surprise the amount of shops that have closed .
have your say