Ted Baker Announces Closure of 15 Stores, 245 Job Cuts Amid Restructuring
The British fashion retailer Ted Baker is undergoing significant restructuring, with plans to close 15 stores in the UK and cut 245 jobs, according to administrators.
Eleven of the stores are set to close by April 19, resulting in 120 job losses. Additionally, 25 head office roles will be eliminated, and four stores that were already slated for closure will shut soon, affecting 100 positions.
Ted Baker’s UK shops are operated by No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL), which entered administration last month. NODL is the holding company for the Ted Baker brand in the UK, and it fell into administration due to financial challenges, including arrears accumulated during a partnership with a Dutch firm that ended earlier this year.
Authentic Brands Group, a US company, owns the intellectual property rights to Ted Baker. The administrators stated that the closures were necessary as the affected stores had little prospect of returning to profitability, even with significant rent reductions.
Joint administrator Benji Dymant emphasized that while the closures would have a regrettable impact on staff, they would ultimately improve the business’s performance. Authentic Brands Group is reportedly in discussions with potential UK and European partners to revive the Ted Baker brand.
The 11 stores closing by April 19 include locations in Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Cambridge, Exeter, Leeds, Liverpool One, London Bridge, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, and Oxford. The four additional stores set to close in the coming weeks are in Bicester, London Brompton Road, London Floral Street, and Manchester Trafford.
Ted Baker, founded in 1988 in Glasgow as a menswear brand, expanded over the years to operate stores in the UK, the US, and licensed locations in Asia and the Middle East.
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