Tuesday 3rd July 2018:
The Original Factory Shop is set to close 32 stores across the country. The
company, which took over many former Woolworth stores, reported a 3.7
per cent drop in revenue from a general slump in trading this year and
last year. In
April 2018, it was announced that the company had arranged a Company
Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to write off some of its £286M liabilities,
According to Retail Week, the embattled budget retailer is proposing to close 32 of its 224 stores while reduce rents on the rest. Its owner Duke Street has also negotiated a £10 million emergency
cash injection deal with its lenders, although this is subject to a
reduction in costs being achieved. Earlier this month Tofs saw its credit insurance pulled by Euler Hermes following news in April of planned stores closures. Last year the discount retailer reported a profit drop of £3.1 million, despite turnover rising by £5 million to £190 million. Its rents are understood to be its biggest stumbling block, and Tofs
said its CVA should mean it will be “well positioned to delivery on the
new growth plan”.
The Warminster branch of The Original Factory Shop is not on the list of closures, but Frome and Salisbury are. The other stores named for closure are Aylesbury, Bargoed, Barry, Bearwood, Brighton, Buckley, Bury St Edmunds,
Catterick Garrison, Church Stretton, Colywn Bay, Dumfries, Helston,
Lockerbie, Maesteg, Morpeth, Oswestry, Penicuik, Perth, Pontarddulais,
Ramsey, Sheerness, Stockbridge, Tredegar, Walsall Wood,
Wantage, Welling, Whitley Bay, Wick, Woodseats, York and a depot in
Penrith.
Trading figures for The Original Factory Shop show its revenue fell
from £190.2M for the year up to April 2017, down to £183.2M in April of
this year. The company said business performance had “deteriorated significantly during 2017 and early 2018”.
