The collapse of Quiz Clothing is first and foremost a bitter blow to the 109 people who have been made redundant at the retailer’s head office in Glasgow and distribution centre in Bellshill.
And sadly this may not be the end of the job cuts, with the fashion company’s slide into administration putting the roles of hundreds of other people, many of whom work in its 40 stores and seven concessions, in serious jeopardy.
Those stores and concessions remain open for now as administrators Alistair McAlinden and Geoff Jacobs at restructuring specialist Interpath Advisory trade the business and assess its options. But it is certainly not difficult to imagine that further stores will close, and more jobs will be lost, as they plot a potential route to survival or sale of the business.
The reasons cited by the administrators for Quiz’s problems will sadly be all too familiar to those who have watched the continuing travails of the UK high street. Economic headwinds, changing consumer habits and cost pressure from business rates and recent increases in employment costs are certainly not exclusive to Quiz, with such themes, or variations of them, highlighted as other retailers have faced similar fates in recent years, from River Island to The Body Shop.
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But it is also the case that it is not the first time Quiz, which was originally founded by clothing entrepreneur Tarak Ramzan in 1993, has faced problems. The company first fell into administration in 2009 before being relaunched by Mr Ramzan in a “pre-pack” deal, and then seemingly capped a remarkable turnaround when it floated on the stock market in 2017 with a value of £200 million.
Recent years however have been less kind to the company. Amid increasingly challenging conditions on the high street, Quiz has felt the chill as retailers have come variously under pressure from factors such as the rise of online shopping, the coronavirus pandemic, and the cost of living crisis. That pressure has been only cranked up even further by the recent hike in employer national insurance contributions, with the prospect of higher business rates coming down the line in April making a difficult situation even worse.
For the company’s remaining employees, it can only be hoped the administrators are able to keep as many stores open and retain as many jobs as possible.
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