Menswear retailer Roger David will close down all its stores before Christmas, after administrators failed to find a buyer for the struggling business.
The company’s administrator, KordaMentha, said all remaining stock will be moved into Roger David’s stores and “priced to clear”.
Its entire chain of 57 stores will shut down by early to mid-December, putting almost 500 employees out of work.
There was “some interest” from potential buyers, according to KordaMentha administrator Craig Shepard.
But ultimately, none of them wanted to save the 76-year-old business because “the retail clothing environment was too tough to make it work”.
“Everyone recognised the strength and the affection for the brand, but it did not pass the viability test,” he said.
“Roger David was a victim of rising fixed costs, fierce competition from online and global competitors and cautious consumer demand.”
Roger David operated more than 100 stores at its peak — under its own brand name, RDX and Stray.
The business was placed into voluntary administration on October 18.
Last month, the company blamed “the influx of multinational retailers and the rapid, global evolution of online shopping” for its demise.
Although the menswear retailer did not name any specific competitors, Amazon, H&M and Zara are commonly understood to be the “multinational retailers” it was referring to.
However, this contrasts with a Deloitte report which found that many 83 per cent of retailers (out of the 30 it surveyed) do not think Amazon will have any impact on their Christmas trading performance.
Roger David is the latest in a long line of retailers that are either struggling or out of business — following in the footsteps of David Lawrence, Marcs, Oroton and Toys ‘R’ Us.
