Jobs will be lost

Jobs will be lost with the closure of clothing retailer Ethel Austin in the Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre and the Middleton Arndale Centre.

Administrators MCR have confirmed that a further 81 stores will cease to trade in the next three to four weeks. This follows the closure of 124 stores last month.

Most of the 81 stores will cease trading by the end of March and a total of 696 positions are likely to be made redundant.

There has also been a further 56 redundancies announced at the head offices in Knowsley.

Geoff Bouchier, joint administrator and partner of MCR, stated: “It is a difficult retail climate and until such time as any sale of the businesses can be completed, cost-cutting measures need to be taken to allow the businesses to trade on in the short term.”