Monsoon and Quiz stores in Leeds to close as companies enter administration

Monsoon Acessorize announced that it had entered administration on Wednesday, June 10.

It expects to make 545 staff redundant as it closes 35 stores.

The company closed its Leeds city centre branch at the start of the year.

It still has a store in the White Rose centre as well as concessions in the Debenhams store.

Monsoon's founder Peter Simon bought the business under his new company Adena Brands.

Mr Simon said: "Ever since I opened the first Monsoon store in Beauchamp Place in 1973, this business has been my passion and my life, and I did not want to see it fall victim to this unprecedented crisis."

"Both Monsoon and Accessorize were trading well before the coronavirus pandemic but the business simply could not withstand the financial impact of having to close all its UK, franchise and joint venture stores for almost three months.

"This deal secures the future of both Monsoon and Accessorize and means we can continue to serve our customers online without a pause. In addition, we will now try to save as many of our stores as possible, depending on the outcome of various discussions with landlords. I would like to thank landlords for the helpfulness and enormous forbearance they have shown so far, which has enabled us to get to this point."

Fashion chain Quiz also announced on Wednesday that it would place its 82 standalone stores into administration as part of a restructure.

The company has a store in the White Rose centre as well as concessions in both Leeds Debenhams stores.

It also has standalone stores in Bradford and at Castleford Junction 32.

The move will result in 11 permanent store closures 93 job losses.

However, the group said 822 of the 915 staff affected by the decision will remain with the group.

Quiz will look to buy back the stock and some of the assets from the Kast division placed in administration for £1.3 million so it can try to renegotiate better rents with landlords on some of the stores with a view to keeping them open.

It did not disclose how many stores it would be looking to retain as part of the deal.

Tarak Ramzan, chief executive of Quiz, said: "It is with deep sadness and regret for some of our colleagues and partners that we had to take this decision to restructure the group's operations.

"Whilst we have taken pro-active actions over the past 18 months to drive footfall to our stores and renegotiate leases to improve performance, the significant economic uncertainty we now face as consumers and businesses emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic has meant that, in order to ensure a sustainable future for the group, we have taken this decision to place the subsidiary which operates our stores into administration.

"We continue to believe that stores, with appropriate property costs and flexible lease terms, can continue to be a relevant pillar in our omni-channel model and we will be seeking to re-open Quiz stores where we believe it is prudent and economic to do so."

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