AROUND 1600 jobs will be lost and hundreds more are at risk in the latest round of casualties on the high street.
Administrators for the Barratts Priceless shoe shops said around 1600 positions would go after attempts to find a buyer for the concessions business failed, while toy store Hawkin's Bazaar could also see 380 staff lose their jobs.
Daniel Butters, joint administrator and partner in Deloitte's restructuring services practice, said: "Following a marketing of the Barratts Priceless businesses it is clear that a satisfactory sale of the concession to a new party will not be achieved.
"Accordingly, the joint administrators have regretfully had to make approximately 1610 Barratts Priceless Group full and part-time employees working in the various concessions redundant."
Only one store in Scotland, in Kilmarnock, will be affected by the closures and the administrators claim they are currently in discussions to rescue a significant part of the remaining business.
Meanwhile, six Hawkin's Bazaar stores in Scotland are in jeopardy after the firm went into administration.
The business will continue to be traded by administrator Zolfo Cooper, who will now seek to sell all or part of it.
A spokesman for Zolfo said: "The directors have worked very hard to turn the business around but have concluded that administration is the best route forward."
The collapse of the two stores comes as the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) warns that the battle against unemployment will be central to kick-starting the economy in 2012.
FSB's Scottish policy convener, Andy Willox OBE, said: "Only by taking co-ordinated action across local, Scottish and UK government will we stand a chance of turning this situation around."
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