Major fashion retailer set to shut ALL stores and disappear from the high street forever

TED Baker is at risk of vanishing from the high street forever as administrators plan to shut all its shops within the next three weeks.

Staff at the troubled retail chain have been given just three weeks’ notice that they will be losing their jobs when the shops are closed.

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The plans have not been finalised but sources confirmed this was the current intention for the business.

A spokesman for the administrators declined to comment.

Ted Baker fell into administration earlier this year after a deal went sour between its American owners, Authentic Brands, and a Dutch operating partner that was meant to run the store operations.

Administrators at Teneo have been trying to find a rescue buyer for the business, but it is understood that House of Fraser, owned by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group pulled out of early talks.

When Ted Baker fell into administration in March it employed 975 people and had 46 shops in the UK and Europe.

Administrators have already closed 15 stores across the UK with the loss of 245 jobs.

But it had been hoped that the remaining stores would stay open.

The collapse of Ted Baker is a sad decline for a fashion brand that a decade ago was one of the strongest names in the retail sector with 550 shops and concessions around the world.

The brand never fully recovered from the ousting of its founder, Ray Kelvin, over “forced hugging” allegations in 2018.

When new management took over, a big accounting error was discovered which weakened the retailer’s finances and made a turnaround more challenging.

It then struggled during the pandemic and the shift to online shopping.

By the time Authentic Brands took Ted Baker private in a £212million takeover in  2022 the business had lost 98 per cent of its value.

Authentic Brands owns Juicy Couture and Reebok as well as the royalty rights to Marilyn Monroe’s estate

Back in April, Next and the Frasers Group, owned by Mike Ashley, were reportedly eyeing up some of the ailing retailer's stores.

The UK retail giants contacted administrators at Teneo Advisory to explore a sale of all or parts of the collapsed business.

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