Maplin could be saved at the last minute from disappearing entirely, as technology retailer Buy It Direct tables a high six-figure bid for the brand.
According to The Mail on Sunday, the Yorkshire-based private company, which also owns Laptops Direct and Furniture123, is the leading bidder to acquire Maplin.
If the bid were to be accepted, Buy It Direct would acquire Maplin’s brand and website and relaunch it as an online-only business and hire 30 staff to run it.
It is understood that all of Maplin’s 200 stores will still shut down and all its physical assets will be sold to cover its £217 million debt pile.
The technology retailer fell into administration earlier this year, after it failed to find a suitable buyer for the brand, costing 2300 people their jobs.
Buy it Now was founded by entrepreneur Nick Glynne in 2000, which posted pre-tax profits of £1.5 million on £146 million turnover last year.
This is a similar strategy that Al Mana group took after the collapse of BHS, buying up the intellectual property just after it collapsed then relaunching it as a website in 2016.
Though it reported a 43 per cent rise in sales at the start of the year, BHS.com was scrapped by its owners last week as they switched their focus to the company’s international bricks and mortar fascia.
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