Young fashion retailers Bestseller, Select, Quiz and Foot Asylum have expressed interest in snapping up whole or parts of collapsed apparel retailer Bank, it is understood.
Bank became the first retail casualty of 2015 when it fell into administration at the start of the year, less than two months after it was sold by JD Sports to restructuring firm Hilco.
Property sources indicated that Bank has an attractive store estate, with shops in major locations including the Bullring in Birmingham and Liverpool One.
The young fashion chain had been loss-making for a number of years and had struggled in a competitive part of the fashion market, Deloitte joint administrator and partner Bill Dawson said. Deloitte declined to comment on the list of interested parties. Savills, which is handling Bank’s store desposals on behalf of Deloitte, also declined to comment.
Bank recorded a pre-tax loss after exceptionals of £8.1m in the year to February 1, 2014.
Administrator Deloitte said last week that 35 staff at Bank’s headquarters in Bury, Lancashire had been made redundant. There have not been any redundancies in any of the retailer’s 84 stores, which are based primarily in the Midlands, North of England and Scotland. The retailer had 1,555 employees when it went into administration on January 5.
Quiz, Bestseller and Select could not be reached.
Foot Asylum declined to comment.
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