Ted Baker to close remaining 31 stores
Ted Baker is set to close its remaining 31 stores in the UK and Ireland this week, with all stores set to shut for the final time by Tuesday.
This comes after No Ordinary Designer Label, the company behind Ted Baker’s UK stores, fell into administration earlier this year.
Prior to its administration, Ted Baker operated 46 stores in the UK, plus department store concessions.
US company Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which owns Ted Baker’s intellectual property, had been searching for a new partner to operate the brand’s retail and online UK business. Next and Frasers Group previously emerged as potential candidates, however it was reported that the latter had pulled out.
Since Ted Baker’s founder, Ray Kelvin, left the company in 2019 amid claims of inappropriate behaviour, it has issued a number of profit warnings and went into the COVID-19 pandemic from a difficult financial position
The retailer was de-listed from the London Stock Exchange in 2022 after it was bought by ABG for about £210m. A subsequent brand licensing partnership with Dutch company AARC was also abandoned.
Last year, a restructuring process saw the retailer let go of around 200 members of its head office staff.
It then secured a long-term lending facility from asset-based lender Secure Trust Commercial Finance. It was hoped that the facility would have provided a “platform for growth” for Ted Baker.
The stores that are closing are located in:
- Ashford
- Bath
- Belfast
- Bluewater, Kent
- Braintree
- Brent Cross
- Bridgend
- Cannock
- Cheshire Oaks
- Dublin
- Gatwick North
- Gatwick South
- Glasgow
- Gloucester Quays
- Heathrow T2, T3, T4 and T5
- Kildare
- Livingston
- Luton
- Manchester Shambles
- O2 Outlet
- Portsmouth
- Regent Street
- Sheffield
- St Pancras
- Stansted
- Swindon
- Westfield White City
- York.