SAVVY shoppers have raced to clear shelves after beloved fashion brand Ted Baker confirmed that it will close its last 31 stores tomorrow.
The mid-market fashion retailer has launched huge clearance sales as it shutters its remaining stores.
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Customers took to social media to share their bargain buys after the retailer slashed its prices by up to 80% in a bid to shift its remaining stock.
Pictures showed stores full of shoppers rummaging through rails of glamorous maxi dresses, winter coats and men’s suits.
In one video the former retail giant had “at least 70% off everything” posters plastered over its window displays.
In the footage posted to TikTok an eye-catching red floral dress which once sold for £159 can be seen on sale for just £25.
Another shopper said he was able to pick up a brown knitted cardigan worth £120 for £36 and a pair of dark grey trousers for £30 after £70 was knocked off the price tag.
Customers could also buy ornaments which once decorated the store, including a large red dog for £60 and a small waving cat for £10.
Even clothing hangers were up for sale, with 20 wooden ones on offer for just £3.
Customers cannot make purchases from Ted Baker‘s website as the firm is no longer accepting online orders.
A notice on its website reads: “Goodbye for now. We are not taking orders right now.”
Shoppers still have 14 days to return online orders but the company is no longer accepting returns from outside of the UK.
All remaining Ted Baker shops in the UK and the Republic of Ireland will shut down for good by the end of Tuesday. These include:
- Ashford
- Bath
- Belfast
- Bluewater
- Braintree
- Brent Cross (London)
- Bridgend
- Cannock
- Cheshire Oaks
- Dublin, Grafton Street
- Gatwick North
- Gatwick South
- Glasgow Buchanan Street
- Gloucester Quays
- Heathrow T2
- Heathrow T3
- Heathrow T4
- Heathrow T5
- Kildare
- Livingston
- Luton
- Manchester Shambles
- O2 Outlet
- Portsmouth
- Regent Street (London)
- Sheffield
- St Pancras (London)
- Stansted
- Swindon
- White City (London)
- York
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
Around 513 employees across the UK and in the company’s head office and 78 in Ireland are expected to be affected by the remaining closures.
The decision to shutter shops comes after Ted Baker fell into administration in March when a deal collapsed between its American owners, Authentic Brands, and a Dutch operating partner which was meant to run the store operations.
Before the company fell into administration it employed 975 people and had 46 shops in the UK and Europe.
In April it announced 15 stores would close with the loss of 120 jobs. They included:
- Birmingham Bullring
- Bristol
- Bromley
- Cambridge
- Exeter
- Leeds
- Liverpool One
- London Bridge
- Milton Keynes
- Nottingham
- Oxford
- Bicester
- Brompton Road, London
- Floral Street, London
- Manchester Trafford
The Sun exclusively revealed in July that the brand was at risk of disappearing from the high street forever within weeks.
Founded in 1988, Ted Baker was well-known in the 90s for its clothes and accessories with bold and floral designs.
But the company started to struggle in 2019 after its founder Ray Kelvin quit his role following allegations of harassment.
Several profit warnings, a statement advising the stock market that company profits will be lower than expected, followed.
Ted Baker was again plunged into jeopardy in March when the firm behind its UK shops, No Ordinary Designer Label Limited (NODL) collapsed into administration.
It was hoped that some of the company’s shops could be saved under a deal with Frasers Group but it is understood that the two companies are no longer in talks.
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