The latest casualty of tough times on the nation’s High Streets is the trendy women’s fashion retailer EAST. The firm went into administration two days ago.
Marlborough’s EAST branch has only been back in the High Street a matter of months. It had to leave its previous premises when they needed some serious structural renovation.
Now the EAST shop has the administrators’ notice on its door and its windows carry the sorry signs of a closing down sale.
EAST had 34 stores and 15 concessions across the United Kingdom and employed 314 staff. In 2015 it had to close 15 stores in an insolvency process prior to administration involving a sale of assets.
Geoff Rowley and Phil Armstrong of FRP Advisory have been appointed as administrators.
During 2017, 118 British retail firms went into administration – an increase of 28 per cent on the previous year and the first rise in such closures in five years.