Closure of Ethel Austin stores

Up to 40 jobs will be lost at branches of budget clothing chain Ethel Austin in the Black Country after administrators for the company today confirmed another series of store closures.

MCR, the administrators of Ethel Austin and its sister company Au Naturale, said they will shut 81 stores nationwide in the next three to four weeks, following the closure of 124 stores last month.

It means closure for the stores in Bilston, Aldridge, West Bromwich and Stafford, which had been reprieved after last month's closures at Heath Town, Walsall, Darlaston, Bearwood and Cradley Heath.

Across the UK the closures mean 696 retail staff are likely to be made redundant, while MCR added it had made more job losses at Ethel Austin's head office in Knowsley, Merseyside, after shedding 56 staff.

Geoff Bouchier, joint administrator and partner of MCR, said: "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 short term."

He added they were still hoping to secure a buyer for the remaining business.