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All UK Toys R US stores are poised to shut down after administrators failed to find a buyer, resulting in a store closure programme and a possible 3,000 job losses.
Toys R Us appointed Moorfields Advisory partners Simon Thomas and Arron Kendall to oversee an administration at the end of February, however it has been confirmed that no buyer was found.
As a result a total of 67 redundancies at the company’s head office in Maidenhead were made earlier today (14 March). All staff affected will be paid up to and including their last day of employment.
So far 25 Toys R Us stores have either closed in recent days or are due to close by 15 March. These stores had been earmarked for closure as part of the proposals put forward in the company’s CVA which was approved in December 2017.
Moorfields said all other UK stores will remain open “until further notice” and that the closure programme for the remaining stores is expected to take “approximately six weeks”.
Moorfields did not specify how many jobs have been lost from the first 25 stores and how many will be lost once the remaining 75 close down, however previous reports estimate that 3,000 jobs will be affected in total.
Thomas said: “We have made every effort to secure a buyer for all or part of the company’s business. This process attracted some interest, but ultimately no party has been able to move forward with a formal bid prior to the expiration of the stated deadline.
“It is therefore with great regret that we have made the difficult decision to make a number of positions redundant at the company’s head office in Maidenhead and proceed with a controlled store closure programme. We are grateful for the hard work of Toys R Us staff during this very difficult period and will be providing support where we can to those who have been made redundant.”
