{"id":19811,"date":"2025-07-24T07:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T07:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/19811\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T07:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T07:58:08","slug":"river-island-which-has-stores-in-broadstairs-canterbury-maidstone-and-bluewater-reportedly-facing-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/19811\/","title":{"rendered":"River Island, which has stores in Broadstairs, Canterbury, Maidstone and Bluewater, reportedly \u2018facing collapse\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A fashion chain with stores in Kent could face collapse within weeks.<\/p>\n

River Island, which has stores in Broadstairs<\/a>, Canterbury<\/a>, Maidstone and Bluewater<\/a>, has reportedly put forward a proposal to close 33 branches and to \u201cslash the rents on a further 71 shops\u201d to \u201cwrite off a series of debts,\u201d reports say.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe retailer has 230 shops across the UK. Picture: Ian West\/PA<\/p>\n

The retailer was founded in 1948 under the Lewis and Chelsea Girl brand before being renamed in the 1980s. A plan is set to be put before the High Court next week.<\/p>\n

If it is approved by three-quarters of the retailer\u2019s creditors, the Lewis family will provide an emergency loan so the company can pay its bills, according to the Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n

But if the plan is rejected, the retailer will run out of money by the end of next month.<\/p>\n

The company has told creditors that, in this instance, it will be left \u201cunable to pay its debts as they fall due.\u201d<\/p>\n

This will mean it \u201cwill not be able to continue trading as a going concern\u201d and \u201cwould be subject to administration or other insolvency proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n

A formal restructuring plan has been drawn up by the chain\u2019s advisers PwC.<\/p>\n

The chain, which also has branches in Bexleyheath and Bromley<\/a>, employs 5,300 people in its stores across the country \u2013 as well as 950 at its head office<\/p>\n

It has blamed the situation on \u201ca sharp rise in the cost of doing business over the last few years\u201d and the rise in online shopping.<\/p>\n

\"RiverRiver Island at Bluewater Shopping Centre in Greenhithe<\/p>\n

PwC will need to convince 75 per cent of River Island\u2019s creditors to back the rescue plan, which would allow the company to \u201cwalk away from a slew of debts, including tens of millions of pounds in outstanding rents to landlords.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, The Telegraph has reported that several industry sources have claimed the proposals face opposition from some quarters.<\/p>\n

The company is proposing three-year rent cuts of between 75 per cent and 25 per cent for the stores that would remain open.<\/p>\n

The owners of 24 stores are being asked to accept zero rental payments.<\/p>\n

A River Island spokesperson said: \u201cRiver Island circulated its proposals for a Restructuring Plan to creditors on June 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn combination with the company\u2019s ongoing Transformation Strategy, the plan is a proactive measure to place the company on a firm footing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been having positive conversations with key stakeholders and are confident that we will achieve approval of the Plan in the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, it was reported that hundreds of jobs were at risk at River Island<\/a> as part of plans to shut more than 30 of its UK outlets.<\/p>\n

River Island fell to a \u00a333.2 million loss in 2023 after sales slid by 19%, according to its most recent set of accounts.<\/p>\n

It is not yet known which stores will be closing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fashion chain with stores in Kent could face collapse within weeks. River Island, which has stores in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12762,84,980,1319,3843,59,191,1318,2555,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-19811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bexley-and-bromley","tag-business","tag-canterbury","tag-consumer","tag-dartford","tag-gb","tag-kent","tag-maidstone","tag-thanet","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}