THE Peacocks stores in Middlesbrough and Thornaby are being closed in the wake of a sale out of administration.
More than 3,000 jobs nationally, including nearly 200 in the North-east, have gone, although the deal with Edinburgh Woollen Mill will save 388 shops and more than 6,000 jobs.
Administrators KPMG said it had been forced to close 224 stores with immediate effect.
In the North-east these are at Captain Cook Square in Middlesbrough, Pavilion Shopping Centre in Thornaby, Newcastle, Gateshead Metrocentre, Killingworth, Spennymoor, Sunderland, Durham and Peterlee.
Those which have not closed include: Regent Walk Redcar; Cleveland Retail Park in Middlesbrough; Parkway Centre, Coulby Newham; Castlegate Shopping Centre, Stockton; Middleton Grange Shopping Centre in Hartlepool and Northgate, Darlington.
Also, Chester-le-Street, Washington, Bishop Auckland, Consett, Newton Aycliffe, Seaham, Jarrow, North Shields, Whitley Bay and Cramlington, will also be kept open.
Chris Laverty, joint administrator at KPMG, said: “While it is unfortunate that redundancies have been necessary, we are pleased that we have been able to preserve the majority of the business and jobs.”
Peacocks collapsed under a debt mountain last month in the biggest retail failure since Woolworths, placing 7,500 jobs in jeopardy.
Edinburgh, which beat off Indian textile and clothing giant S Kumars Nationwide, said it would attempt to save some of the stores and jobs being lost.
However, chief executive Philip Day added: “As you can imagine, there will be a considerable amount of work to undertake over the next few months to stabilise the situation, turn this business around, get the supply chain moving again and excite the customers with great products.”
Combined with the 1,400 job losses at Bonmarche, the total number of jobs lost in the failure of Peacocks is now about 4,750.
The chain, which was owned by hedge funds Och-Ziff and Perry Capital, collapsed under its £240m of net debt despite strong trading.
John Gorle, national officer of shop workers’ union Usdaw, said: “While this is obviously fantastic news for those workers whose jobs have been saved, it is absolutely catastrophic news for the 3,100 people now facing the dole queue and this remains one of the worst redundancy situations of recent years.
“Usdaw will be seeking a meeting with Edinburgh Woollen Mill as soon as possible.”
