Ted Baker closes final stores putting 500 jobs at risk
Ted Baker Closing Final Stores, 500 Jobs At Risk
The Ted Baker stores are currently in their final days of being open for business, as indicated by the sale signs displayed in late July.
The 31 Ted Baker stores in the UK that are still open will be shutting down this week, potentially jeopardizing over 500 jobs.
All the stores belonging to the fashion brand are anticipated to be closed by the end of Tuesday.
The company that owns Ted Baker's stores in the UK, known as No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL), went into administration in March of this year.
In April, the management team shut down 15 stores and laid off 245 employees.
Prior to going into administration, Ted Baker had approximately 975 workers in the United Kingdom and operated 46 stores, along with an online shopping platform and concessions within department stores.
Currently, NODL has 513 employees working in the UK at both the Ted Baker stores and head office.
The American company Authentic Brands Group holds the rights to Ted Baker's intellectual property, while NODL previously served as the owner of the brand in the United Kingdom.
When NODL went into administration in March, Authentic stated that the negative impact from a partnership with another company was insurmountable.
In April, the managers stated that Authentic was still in talks with possible partners in the UK and Europe for the Ted Baker brand.
On Sunday, Sky News reported that discussions regarding a potential licensing partnership for future operations had come to a halt, marking the latest setback in the ongoing store closures.
Ted Baker was originally a men's clothing brand founded in Glasgow in 1988. Since then, it has expanded its presence to include stores throughout the UK and USA, as well as licensed locations in various cities in Asia and the Middle East.
However, it experienced challenges in recent years due to instability, beginning in 2019 when Ray Kelvin, the founder, stepped down following allegations of misconduct, which he refuted.
The person who took over after him, Lindsay Page, and the chairman, David Bernstein, both stepped down the next year due to a warning about lower profits.
The 31 shops that will be shutting down are located in:
Ashford, Bath, Belfast, the Bluewater shopping center in Kent, Braintree, Brent Cross (London), Bridgend, Cannock, Cheshire Oaks, Dublin, Grafton Street, Gatwick north, Gatwick South, Glasgow Buchanan Street, Gloucester Quays, Heathrow T2, T3, T4 and T5, Kildare, Livingston, Luton, Manchester Shambles, O2 Outlet, Portsmouth, Regent Street (London), Sheffield, St Pancras (London), Stansted, Swindon, White City (London) and York.
Ted Baker also has partnerships in place for stores in cities in Asia and the Middle East, which are not impacted.
