Type
Bankruptcy
Country
Ireland
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
Sector
Retail
Retail Trade, Except Of Motor Vehicles And Motorcycles
Retail Sale Of Other Goods In Specialised Stores
47.7 - Retail sale of other goods in specialised stores

1,000 - 1,500 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
9 April 2020
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date

Description

Debenhams a department store retailer, announced the permanent closure of all its 11 Irish stores, affecting 1,000 employees, who were in temporarily lay-off status, and 500 indirect jobs. The company is going into liquidation after suffering financial uncertainty for the past year due to customers shifting to online shopping; the COVID-19  pandemic has pushed the decision to close the stores in Ireland while 142 stores in the UK have also been put under administration.

The Mandate Union commented that although workers knew the company situation was difficult the announcement came as a surprise. The union will seek to maintain the stores open and to explore possibilities of rent reductions for the store locations.


Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2020), Debenhams, Bankruptcy in Ireland, factsheet number 100288, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/100288.