JJB store at the Trafford Centre forced to close (From Messenger Newspapers)

JJB store at the Trafford Centre forced to close

4:00pm Thursday 4th October 2012 in News By Kate Banks, Reporter

THE JJB store in the Trafford Centre was forced to close this week, resulting in over 20 job losses.

The store opened as normal on Monday, but in a dramatic move, administrators arrived at 11am and closed the store.

Administrators from KPMG were appointed to the companies which make up JJB on Monday as the sports clothing and equipment retailer had gone into administration.

While KPMG made an agreement to sell 20 of the stores to rival Sports Direct, the Trafford Centre store along with 133 others was closed on Monday.
 

The closures will result in approximately 2,200 redundancies nationwide, 167 employees have been retained to assist KPMG administrators.
 

Richard Fleming, UK head of restructuring at KPMG, said: “Successive attempts to restructure the business, both financially and operationally, have not been enough to prevent the company falling into administration.
 

“Unfortunately a buyer could only be found for 20 stores on a going concern basis.
 

“All staff made redundant as a result of store closures have had their arrears of wages and holiday entitlements paid in full.
 

“Our team of employment specialists will be supporting staff on completing redundancy forms and putting them in touch with job seeker services.
 

“We will now be reviewing what options are available for the remainder of the business, such as selling leasehold interests.”