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The company was incorporated in 2013 and traded from Harrington Mill in Leopold Street(Image: Google Street View)<\/p>\nAttempts to find funding to keep the business going failed<\/p>\n
11:07, 23 Nov 2025Updated 11:08, 23 Nov 2025<\/p>\n
The company was incorporated in 2013 and traded from Harrington Mill in Leopold Street(Image: Google Street View)<\/p>\n
The reasons for the collapse of a Long Eaton<\/a> firm have been revealed after it entered administration and made its staff redundant.<\/p>\n Administrators <\/a>were appointed at furniture <\/a>importer Alexander & James Limited in September after attempts to sell it failed.<\/p>\n The company, which was incorporated in 2013 and traded from Harrington Mill in Leopold Street<\/a>, imported luxury sofas produced in Thailand and supplied them to furniture retailers.<\/p>\n Its Thailand-based parent company TCM Corporation Public Company Limited (TCMC) said Alexander & James and another one of its UK subsidiaries had ceased trading operations on Monday, September 15, and now its administrators have explained how it fell into insolvency.<\/p>\n Joint administrators from Opus Restructuring said the importer had encountered severe and mounting difficulties from 2023 onwards.<\/p>\n The premium furniture sector experienced “disproportionate decline” as economic uncertainty caused consumers to defer or reduce spending on high-value home furnishings, they explained.<\/p>\n This decline was catastrophic for the business, which also had to contend with escalating costs for leather, timber and energy.<\/p>\n Alexander & James’s administrators also said several key customers had been buying less furniture, with increasing price points putting off homeowners who were already cutting down on spending.<\/p>\n “The aspirational positioning that served the brand well during prosperous periods became a liability as consumers prioritised essential purchases and value considerations,” the business’s creditors were told.<\/p>\n Opus Restructuring said the company’s plans to expand the brand globally, which could have helped it bring in more money, were not possible due to the required spending needed to make it possible.<\/p>\n The restructuring experts explained the management of Alexander & James had made “substantial efforts” to try to save the business, cutting costs and attempting to strengthen ties with retailers.<\/p>\n When these measures failed, attempts to secure new funding were made but “potential funders viewed the luxury furniture market outlook as too uncertain to justify investment”.<\/p>\n The directors later concluded that the company could not continue trading as a going concern, with all staff made redundant on September 16.<\/p>\n The firm’s administration is another sign of the challenges facing Long Eaton’s proud history of manufacturing and supplying furniture.<\/p>\n There are dozens of upholstery companies still based in the town, which became renowned for its fine workmanship during the 19th and 20th centuries.<\/p>\n