Perth’s Beales store will be among those closing

Beales department store in Perth is to close after the joint administrators failed to find a buyer for most of the group’s outlets.

Discussions are ongoing for the sale of 11 stores, but 12 – including the original store in Bournemouth – will shut and will begin closing down sales for about eight weeks.

The closure of the Perth store is another blow to the high street after a number of other long-established retailers shut down, including Watt Brothers in Glasgow.

KPMG, the administrators, were called in last month and said they remain in active discussions with interested parties regarding a going concern sale of a number of Beales stores.

However, no offers have been received in respect of selling all 23 stores as a going concern. As a result, the joint administrators are now in the process of developing plans with store directors and management teams to implement the closure of 12 stores.

This will affect about 500 of the group’s 1,200 staff.

It is anticipated that these stores will continue to trade, running closing down sales for around eight weeks. 

Employees across these stores will be retained to assist with trading over the weeks ahead, and the joint administrators and their teams will continue to work closely with staff during this period.

There is currently no intention to implement closure plans for the remaining 11 stores, which will all continue to operate as usual until an outcome with regards to a sale of the business is clarified.

The department store began trading in Bournemouth in 1881. Its operating losses grew to £2m in the year to 31 March 2019, from £865,000 the year before. Turnover was £48.3m in 2019, against £48.7m in 2018.

The stores to be closed are:

Perth

Bournemouth 

Hexham

Worthing 

Tonbridge

Peterborough

Mansfield

Keighley

Spalding

Wisbech

Bedford 

Yeovil