By IANS,
Brisbane (Australia) : Australian clothing retailer Fletcher Jones has been put in administration after 93 years in business, becoming the latest victim of the national retail gloom, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said Thursday.
ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said Fletcher Jones joined a long list of retail failures, including Colorado clothing chain, fashion retailers Ed Hardy, Satch Clothing and Brown Sugar, and electrical retailer Clive Peeters, in the past nine months, reported Xinhua.
Putting into administration is a process for control, where a company is insolvent and facing serious threats from creditors. The Court may appoint a licensed insolvency practitioner as Administrator — this places a moratorium around the company and stops all legal actions,
“It is sad. They join a list of very, very big grand names of retail that have been under stress and either gone into liquidation or have had to reinvent themselves over the last nine months,” he told the Australia Associated Press (AAP).
Zimmerman blamed excessive overheads such as high rents and excessive penalty rates for weekend trading for the retail slump.
Fletcher Jones has been in the tailoring business in Australia for 93 years, with more than 40 stores across the country.
Administrator Bruno Secatore from Cord Cordis said stores remain open while the company’s financial situation is examined.
“It’s business as usual for customers and everyone,” Secatore told Australia’s Fairfax Media Thursday.