Ernst and Young – administrators of the struggling retailer – has closed stores in key locations such as Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle (pictured). The chain has 92 stores left, which remain open for now, as the administrators struggle to find a buyer willing to rescue the group.
Zavvi – the UK's largest independent retailer of games, music and film goods – fell into administration on Christmas Eve. The retailer’s demise was largely a knock-on effect from the fall of Woolworths and its wholesale distributor EUK.
Much like Woolworths did in its final weeks, a store-wide sale has been announced, with discounts that rise as high as 50% off. The sale will begin this Friday.
"Despite record consumer demand since Christmas, it is no longer possible to support continued trading across all of the Zavvi stores," says Tom Jack, one of Zavvi’s three administrators from Ernst & Young. "Unfortunately, the current difficulties faced on the UK High Street seem to be discouraging retailers from investing in a significant number of new stores."
Speaking to Edge earlier this week, Ernst & Young claimed that the group was still receiving high levels of interest to by parts of the business or the company as a whole.
Jack went further in detailing such interest; “So far we have received 60 expressions of interest which we continue to actively pursue.”
Ernst & Young is now “working closely with the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payment Office and Job Centre Plus to provide support and advice to all employees made redundant, including a fast track process for paying redundancy entitlements.”