Eight jobs to go as Walsall Office Outlet store shuts
The former Staples store in Walsall is to shut with the loss of eight jobs as the Office Outlet chain closes 16 sites across the country.
Hilco bought the UK stores of US-chain Staples in 2016, re-naming it Office Outlet.
The company was a retailer of office supplies, business technology, and copy and print services to businesses, homes and schools.
SUK Retail, which trades as Office Outlet and has 90 stores in the UK, entered administration last month, putting 1,200 jobs at risk.
The store at Tildasley Street, West Bromwich, shut on Sunday, but the chain still has sites at Kidderminster and Telford which are still trading.
The Walsall store at Crown Wharf Retail Park will shut on April 10 with the redundancies taking effect on April 12.
The raft of store closures will result in 161 job losses.
The other affected locations are: Beckton, Catterick, Gloucester, Newport (Isle of Wight), Merton, Newcastle, Plymouth, Staples Corner, Stratford, Cardiff, Carlisle, Manchester, Old Kent Road, Southampton, and Weston Super Mare.
Two partners at business services firm Deloitte have been appointed joint administrators and are seeking a new owner.
The retailer has no connection to the online-only business which trades under the Staples UK name.
The Office Outlet chain launched a rescue plan last August under a form of insolvency called a Company Voluntary Arrangement.
Office Outlet chief executive Chris Yates led a management buyout of the company last September, leaving Hilco as a minority owner.
The administrators said the chain had suffered as demand for stationery supplies had continued to fall and its suppliers cut the credit terms on which it trades.
Richard Hawes, joint administrator, commented: “While we are still open to a sale of the business in part or in whole, we cannot continue trading all the stores indefinitely in an administration process.
"Regrettably therefore we are announcing store closures that will result in a number of redundancies.
"We will be keeping staff informed of further developments in the coming weeks in what is a difficult time for all those involved.”
On March 26, 106 redundancies were made at the company’s head office and distribution centre in Daventry, Northamptonshire.
