The Joint administrators of the JTF Mega Discount Warehouse business have confirmed the three stores which will stay permanently closed.
This week BusinessLive revealed how the Leicestershire-based Poundstretcher group had bought the chain’s intellectual property rights and was reopening nine of its stores.
Now Marco Piacquadio and Nathan Jones – partners at specialist business advisory firm FRP who were bought in to run the JTF Wholesale Limited group on August 31 – have that confirmed stores in Preston, Sheffield and Warrington will remain shut.
Following the buy-out by Bargain Buys – a discount store chain and subsidiary of Poundstretcher – the nine stores that will reopen are in Barrow in Furness, Hucknall in Notts, Kidderminster, Kingston upon Hull, Leeds, Lincoln, Stoke, Tamworth and Newcastle.
Poundstretcher co-owner and chief executive Aziz Tayub said they would be bringing back around 230 staff to run the shops, with plans also being drawn up to open another 15 JTF branches by next spring.
FRP partner and joint administrator Marco Piacquadio said: “The JTF Mega Discounts brand now has a future.
“We wish the business venture all the best as it looks to rebuild the business, reopen certain stores and trade online.
“As part of our role, we are also committed to working with the Pensions Regulator and Redundancy Payments Service to support around 500 former employees who were made redundant by the former directors of the business prior to our appointment.
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“Our specialist employment team is helping to process claims.”
Legal advice was provided to the joint administrators on the appointment and related transaction by a team led by Carl Mifflin from Howes Percival, as well as Trevor Palethorpe of instructed agents John Pye.
Mr Tayub said JTF would continue to operate on membership clubcard system, and the online operation would also continue.
Nottinghamshire-based JTF Mega Discount Warehouse collapsed earlier this summer when a deal to sell the business fell through.
A statement issued on behalf of the company at the time said that the pandemic had played a big role in its demise, with the forced closure of stores wiping out fireworks and Christmas sales which were “two of the largest seasonal items for JTF”.
Mr Tayub said JTF had faced major stock shortages, whereas the Poundstretcher group, he said, had £200 million of stock split between the warehouse at its Leicestershire head office and its 400 stores.
He said: “We’re delighted to welcome JTF to our Poundstretcher family and to be working with the 200-or-so staff in the business.”
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