Office Outlet administrators axe 161 jobs & close 16 stores

// Office Outlet administrators to close 16 stores, resulting in 161 job losses

// Nine stores will shut down on April 7, with a further seven on April 10

// Office Outlet went into administration in March and is seeking a new owner

Administrators for Office Outlet have announced a raft of store closures and scores of job cuts as they continue to search for a new owner.

The retailer, formerly known as Staples, went under last month and administrators from Deloitte have confirmed that 16 stores will shut down this month, resulting in 161 job cuts.

At the time of its fall into administration, Office Outlet had 1200 employees and 90 stores.

Of the stores shutting down, nine will close on April 7 and another seven will shutter on April 10.

The 161 redundancies these store closures will result in are in addition to the 106 jobs which were lost at Office Outlet’s head office and distribution centre in Daventry last month.

Richard Hawes, joint administrator from Deloitte, said that although advisers were still open to a sale of all or part of the business, some stores must be closed.

The first wave of store closures affects Office Outlet branches in Beckton, Catterick, Gloucester, Newport (Isle of Wight), Merton, Newcastle, Plymouth, Staples Corner (London), and Stratford.

The second wave will affect Cardiff, Carlisle, Manchester, Old Kent Road, Southampton, Walsall and Weston Super Mare.

US-based stationery giant Staples agreed to sell its UK shops to Hilco Capital, the former owner of HMV, in late 2016.

The stores were then renamed Office Outlet, but in 2018, a management buyout led by chief executive Chris Yates took control of the Office Outlet.

In August last year, Office Outlet launched a CVA which saw a handful of stores shut down as well as three years of free rent on 20 others.

Office Outlet is completely separate and independent from online retailer Staples.

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