Three Merry Hill stores on brink of administration
Three national chains with stores at Merry Hill were today on the brink of administration, plunging dozens of jobs at the shopping centre under threat.
Clothing group Internacionale, model specialists ModelZone and fashion retailer Ark have filed notices to appoint administrators. The announcement was made today just hours before they were due to pay rents for the next quarter.
The chain groups all have stores at the shopping centre in Brierley Hill – but managers at each branch were unable to talk on orders from company bosses.
It is unclear how many staff are based at Internacionale and ModelZone – but a total of nine people work at Ark.
Direct Line Insurance broke more bad news for the job market today, announcing it was to axe 2,000 jobs.
A total of 120 of the company's 800-strong workforce in Birmingham are set to lose their jobs by the end of the year. All the affected staff are backroom claims handling staff at Direct Line House in Livery Street.
Today, councillor for the Brierley Hill ward, Zafar Islam, said: "If, unfortunately, one or more stores do close, even if it was a few people who lost their jobs, it would be a terrible time for anyone to be put in that situation when they don't have another job to go onto."
He added: "I must admit I haven't noticed Merry Hill shopping centre struggling, whenever I am there it is thriving and there doesn't seem to be any problem there with a lack of shops.
"I hope if there were any shop closures, those stores would be occupied as soon as possible, not just to fill the centre, but to provide local jobs."
Internacionale has a chain of nearly 150 stores including shops at the Mander Centre in Wolverhampton and Walsall.
ModelZone, which also has a store in Birmingham, operates from 47 sites and Ark has 17 stores.
Internacionale is to appoint Ernst and Young as administrators with ModelZone to appoint Deloitte and Ark lining up Begbies Traynor.
The rents for the next quarter are due on Monday. The announcements follow other store closures at the Merry Hill shopping centre and retail parks in the past year.
In March, stationery chain Staples closed its store as part of a nationwide closure programme which saw 23 of its 134 sites closes their doors.
In January, camera retailer Jessops closed all its 187 stores, including one in the shopping centre, after falling into administration.
The vacant units have often been replaced by other stores, however.
