Beales to close all remaining stores, including Skegness shop

Beales, one of Britain’s oldest department store chains, will close its remaining 11 stores, including in Skegness, after the administrators announced no offers had been made for them.

As previously reported, the firm, which began trading in Bournemouth in 1881 and has 23 stores, entered administration last month. Will Wright and Steve Absolom from KPMG Restructuring were appointed as joint administrators to Beale Limited and J E Beale Plc (“Beales”) on Monday, January 20, 2020.

Earlier this month, the joint administrators announced that Beales would close 12 of its stores, including one in Spalding.

At the time there was no intention to implement closure plans for the remaining 11 stores.

The joint administrators confirmed on Tuesday that they are continuing discussions with a number of interested parties for a sale of the business as a going concern.

However, with no deliverable offers received for the business to date, the administrators announced that they are commencing preparations for the closure of the remaining 11 stores, including one in Skegness, and associated stock liquidation. In addition, a further 20 staff members have been made redundant from the Beales head office in Bournemouth.

It is anticipated that stores will trade for a period of approximately eight weeks while the closing down sales are conducted. Employees across the stores will be retained to assist with trading over the weeks ahead.

The joint administrators and their teams will continue to work closely with staff during this period. If a sale is not achieved, the exact closure dates of each store will vary depending on trading performing and other facts.

Will Wright, joint administrator, said: “We’d like to thank all Beales employees for their wholehearted support and assistance during the administration process. We understand that the failure to achieve a sale so far will come as disappointing news, but can assure them that we will continue in our efforts to secure some form of positive outcome.”