Retailer Pamela Scott to close 12 stores with the loss of 104 jobs

Pamela Scott is to close half of it 24 stores around Ireland, including its landmark store on Grafton Street, due to the Covid crisis with the loss of 104 jobs.

In a statement the fashion retailer said a restructuring of the business is expected to secure 90 roles, with stores set to remain open at Clonmel, Mullingar, Castlebar, Waterford, Newbridge, Wexford, Ennis, Letterkenny, Middleton, Athlone, Navan and Kilkenny. The store’s online business is also unaffected by the restructuring.

Gift vouchers, credit notes, loyalty cards and deposits will be unaffected by the closures, regardless of where the vouchers were purchased, the retailer said.

"It is devastating to have to close shops and in particular to have to say goodbye to so many of our employees, some of whom have been working for Pamela Scott for decades. Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and we feel this is the very best way of protecting not just one of Ireland's oldest and largest fashion chains, but the livelihoods of our remaining 90 employees," said managing director Richard Barron.

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“When it comes to high-street retailing in general, and fashion in particular, you have to adapt or face extinction. Pamela Scott has repeatedly adapted both to changing customer tastes and to changing market conditions. We are confident that this restructuring will allow us to continue to bring the very best of Irish and international fashion to our Irish customer base for many years to come,” he added.

The High Court today appointed provisional liquidators to two related companies that operate the 12 retail outlets. The firms are Arzac Developments Ltd which operates 10 of the Pamela Scott stores in Ireland, and Richard Alan & Co which had operated three stores.

The two firms are both owned by Dublin registered Flairline Fashion Ltd.

Two of the Richard Allen shops in Cork and in the Frascati Shopping Centre trade as Pamela Scott. The third Richard Allen shop trades from within the Pamela Scott outlet on Grafton Street.