Two of our most iconic high-street stores, Warehouse and Oasis, are closing down permanently, with 1,803 staff set to lose their jobs.
This comes after they were put into administration, but couldn't find a buyer to bail them out. The two brands, owned by Oasis Warehouse Limited, had been struggling financially as a result of the global pandemic.
All physical stores won't re-open after the lockdown, and the websites stopped all online orders last week when they couldn't meet the costs of shipping orders to customers. The staff had been furloughed when administrators were called in last week but will now be made redundant.
Administrators Deloitte announced it had sold the intellectual property and the company’s stock to restructuring expert Hilco Capital, but that they had declined to buy the rest of the business.
Administrator Rob Harding said in a statement, 'Covid-19 has presented extraordinary challenges which have devastated the retail industry. It is with great sadness that we have to announce a sale of the business has not been possible and that we are announcing so many redundancies today.
'This is a very difficult time for the group’s employees and other key stakeholders and we will do everything we can to support them through this. ‘We would like to thank all the employees and other key stakeholders in the group for their continued support.'
It is a sad time for the UK high street, with two of our cherished childhood stores closing for good.
