Carpetright: More than 1,500 jobs go despite rescue deal

Over 1,500 employees at Carpetright will be laid off, even though Tapi, a competitor in the flooring industry, has agreed to take over some of its stores.

Tapi Carpets & Floors has acquired the Carpetright brand, the company's intangible assets, two storage facilities, and 54 retail locations, preserving 308 positions.

Yet, the rest of the employees at Carpetright were not part of the agreement and will be losing their jobs in the near future, some right away and others gradually.

Jeevan Karir, who leads Tapi, mentioned that originally they had hoped to rescue Carpetright completely, but soon realized that it was not possible.

He mentioned that although the agreement will preserve over 300 jobs, many additional employees at Carpetright's main office in Purfleet, Essex, and in some of their stores, will only be retained temporarily to gradually close down operations.

Before going bankrupt, Carpetright had over 1,800 employees and a total of 273 stores nationwide.

Over a week ago, it was revealed that Carpetright was on the brink of collapsing and was planning to bring in PwC as an administrator while trying to secure additional funding.

PwC announced on Monday that administrators are helping impacted employees to make sure they get the payments they deserve as quickly as they can.

Zelf Jussain, co-administrator at PwC, recognized that it was a challenging period for those impacted.

He stated that by selling some stores and the brand to Tapi, it was possible to rescue more than 300 jobs. This transfer of ownership also provides the opportunity for the Carpetright brand to thrive and prosper in the future.

Nevertheless, it is very unfortunate that some employees will be losing their jobs. We are dedicated to assisting those impacted and will ensure that their redundancy packages are handled promptly.

PwC has stated that Tapi has contacted other retail companies to make sure that job applications from former Carpetright employees are given special attention.

Tapi's manager, Mr. Karir, expressed deep sadness over the inability to save a larger portion of the company.

"Nevertheless, upon further examination of the situation, we soon realized that it was not feasible to rescue the entire business," stated the company.

Tapi claimed that their offer was the only one that could save "many jobs" and the deal would enable the company to grow into various regions in the UK.

Kevin Barrett, who is the CEO of the company that owns Carpetright, Nestware Holdings, mentioned that they have been concentrating on finding additional funding to protect jobs in the past week.

"We were able to find a buyer for some of our stores, but unfortunately, the deal only includes a specific few locations rather than the entire business. This means that many of our colleagues and staff will be impacted by the decision," he explained.

We did our best to improve Carpetright, but unfortunately we couldn't save as many jobs as we hoped.

He explained that the agreement would not have any impact on Carpetright stores in Europe or other Nestware brands such as Keswick and Trade Choice.

Before, Mr. Barrett mentioned that their strategy to reorganize the company was affected by a decrease in sales in April. This was due to a cyber-attack that prevented customers from placing orders on the website.

Carpetright has also been impacted by decreasing consumer interest.

Shops selling expensive items are having a hard time making sales because customers are prioritizing buying things they need for everyday life, like groceries, as they deal with the ongoing impact of rising living costs.

If you have made a purchase at a store that Tapi has not acquired, PwC suggests reaching out to your credit card company to inquire about getting a refund.

You can find a complete list of all the stores participating in the promotion on the Carpetright website.

Carpetright was established by Lord Philip Harris in 1988, with its inaugural shop launching in Canning Town in the eastern part of London. It experienced many fruitful years, becoming a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange in June 1993 before being removed from the list in 2020.

Once known as the top carpet expert, Lord Harris was later joined by his family in the home goods industry. Several family members were part of the team that started Tapi a decade ago.

Lord Harris still works as a consultant for Tapi.