More than 1,800 jobs are set to be lost at Oasis and Warehouse as administrators said they were unable to rescue the company behind the brands.
The brands, which are owned by the failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing, also have 437 concessions in department stores including Debenhams and Selfridges.
Deloitte, the accountancy firm, was appointed to handle an insolvency process earlier this month.
More than 1,800 jobs are set to be lost at Oasis and Warehouse as administrators said they were unable to rescue the company behind the brands
Sky News reported that Hilco Capital, the former owner of HMV has agreed to buy the brands, along with Idle Man, but not the stores.
Stock from their hundreds of outlets across the UK will be bought by Hilco.
Staff are also reportedly not receiving statutory redundancy pay.
Sky News reported that Hilco Capital, the former owner of HMV has agreed to buy the brands, along with Idle Man, but not the stores
In a statement the Joint administrator at Deloitte, Rob Harding, blamed coronavirus for the stores’ demise: ‘COVID-19 has presented extraordinary challenges which have devastated the retail industry.
‘It is with great sadness that we have to announce a sale of the business has not been possible and that we are announcing so many redundancies today.
Today’s news comes just weeks after Oasis and Warehouse started discussions with prospective buyers following an approach from an unnamed company.
The businesses were struggling along with many of the UK’s high street retailers which have been forced to close all their stores due to the virus outbreak.
Debenhams announced earlier this month that it is going in to administration, putting thousands of jobs at risk
Cath Kidston announced last week it was permanently to shut its 60 UK stores with the loss of more than 900 jobs
Deal talks with prospective buyers fell through with the uncertainty caused by the pandemic thought to have made a sale impossible to conclude.
The coronavirus pandemic is expected to change the look of high streets for ever, with famous names like Laura Ashley having already gone.
Debenhams announced earlier this month that it is going in to administration, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
Around 22,000 jobs could be lost as the fashion brand blames the ‘unprecedented circumstances’ of the coronavirus crisis on a sharp downturn in trade.
Debenhams said its Irish business, which runs 11 stores with around 1,400 staff, will cease trading. It will continue to trade online in Ireland, the UK and Denmark.
Many national chains are unlikely to re-open hundreds of stores which were already struggling as a result of a shift to online shopping.
Town centres will have to switch their focus towards leisure, entertainment and housing, with shopping streets turned to residential use.
Construction too is suffering, while consumer confidence has dropped at the most rapid rate since the darkest days of the 1970s.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research has predicted that the lockdown is costing the economy £2.4billion a day, equivalent to 31 per cent of national output.
Elsewhere on the high street footwear chain Clark’s said last week a small number of its 347 stores may never open again once the lockdown is over.
The crisis on the high street has already claimed the likes of restaurant chain Carluccio’s and homeware store BrightHouse.
UK fashion retailer Animal is closing its 21 stores putting up to 500 jobs at risk. The company, which sells surfing-inspired clothing, has blamed the ‘extremely challenging’ retail marked which has been made considerably more difficult
Cath Kidston announced last week it was permanently to shut its 60 UK stores with the loss of more than 900 jobs.
The fashion retailer confirmed its stores will not reopen once the coronavirus lockdown is over after the company’s owners secured a deal to buy back its brand and online operations following its fall into administration.
Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA), which has held a stake in the retailer since 2014, said it will buy the online business, brand and wholesale arm from administrators Alvarez & Marsal.
It said the move will result in the ‘cessation of the retail store network’.
The reporting period for March 2020 was from 1 March to 4 April 2020 meaning that two weeks of the five-week trading period was under social distancing measures introduced as the government moved into the ‘delay’ phase of the coronavirus response. This affected main store types in various ways
The company confirmed that only 32 of its 940 staff will see their jobs secured as part of the deal.
Melinda Paraie, chief executive officer of Cath Kidston, said: ‘While we are pleased that the future of Cath Kidston has been secured, this is obviously an extremely difficult day as we say goodbye to many colleagues.
‘Despite our very best efforts, against the backdrop of Covid-19, we were unable to secure a solvent sale of the business which would have allowed us to avoid administration and carry on trading in our current form.
‘I would like to thank all our employees for their hard work, loyalty and patience over the last few weeks as we worked through this process.’
A spokesman for BPEA said: ‘While we are disappointed that the Covid-19 crisis has resulted in the cessation of the retail store network and impacted many employees, we are pleased to have secured a future for a number of Cath Kidston staff and the Cath Kidston brand in the form of a viable digital business.
‘Going forward we will continue to help the company grow through its e-commerce platform and international wholesale and franchise businesses.
It comes as John Lewis bosses are deciding which of their 50 stores will re-open after the coronavirus lockdown eases, with inside sources claiming it is ‘highly unlikely’ all of them will survive.
The High Street giant was forced to close all 35 of its department stores and 15 smaller John Lewis At Home shops when Britain went into lockdown in March.
John Lewis bosses are deciding which of their 50 stores will re-open after the coronavirus lockdown eases
It saw 400 staff made redundant and another 14,000 furloughed.
John Lewis has battled rising rent and business rates, announcing ‘dire’ results in January, with sales 23 per cent down on the previous year.
The John Lewis Partnership also includes Waitrose, which has fared better during the lockdown and has been allowed to stay open for shoppers to stock up on essentials.
But with a major ramp-up of online operations, discussions are under way on whether it will be financially viable to reopen John Lewis department stores.
Several Waitrose stores have already been forced to close in recent years.
JLP said in a statement today: ‘We keep our estate under continuous review in order to ensure we have the right amounts of shops to best serve our customers and remain commercially viable.
A woman wearing a face mask walking past a Laura Ashley store in South Woodford, London
‘It is too early to make a decision but, as always, any decision that is made is done with securing the long-term financial sustainability of the Partnership and is always communicated to our Partners first.’
Meanwhile, the ONS said the total value of online food sales in March was more than double the same month last year, rising by 101 per cent.
Rhian Murphy, head of retail sales at the ONS, said: ‘Retail sales saw their biggest monthly fall since records began over 30 years ago with large declines in clothing and fuel, only partially offset by strong food sales.
‘Online-only retailers saw strong growth though, with many high street stores also unsurprisingly seeing a boost to web sales.’
Total sales declined as increases in online sales failed to offset lower in-store sales, after non-essential stores were told to close their doors on March 23.
It said a record high of 22.3 per cent of sales were made online as delivery operations continued.