Paul Simon's remaining stores to close as administrator fails to find buyer

The stores will be shuttered over the next three weeks after a buyer could not be found for the homewares chain which hired Deloitte as administrator at the beginning of April.

Deloitte partner and lead administrator Lee Manning said: “The business cannot trade indefinitely without the prospect of a buyer.

“The sector in which Paul Simon operates remains a challenging market. Loss-making stores with excessive rents, a complicated delivery model for relatively modest transaction sizes and financing problems combined to reduce the ongoing viability of the enterprise. This ultimately led to the appointment of administrators and restricted the level of interest from potential purchasers.”

Deloitte sold seven stores to TJ Hughes-owner Lewis’s Home Retail earlier this month.

The remaining 22 stores due to be closed are: Aylesbury, Aylesford, Basildon, Byfleet, Catford, Chadwell Heath, Colchester, Crawley, Croydon, Fareham, Farnborough, Ipswich, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Norwich, Orpington, Peterborough, Rayleigh, Southampton, Stevenage, Swindon and Watford.