Much loved fashion retailer ‘to close all of its stores for good within weeks’

Ted Baker, the troubled fashion chain once the go-to brand for young floral print-loving professionals, may soon be gone for good.

Founded in 1987, the Scottish design house at its peak had thousands of staff and roughly 500 stores worldwide.

But after years of scandals, shoddy bookkeeping and the coronavirus pandemic, the brand’s owners called in the administrators earlier this year.

Now all remaining Ted Baker stores could be closed within the next three weeks, sources told The Sun.

Ted Baker had 46 UK stores and employed 975 people before going into insolvency, with 15 stores already shuttered. and 254 people out of work.

The tabloid reports that staff will likely lose their jobs when the shutters are pulled down on the stores for the last time.

While the plans haven’t been finalised, the insiders said Ted Baker disappearing from the high street forever is the intention.

Ted Baker’s future was thrown into uncertainty in March after a deal between its American owners, Authentic Brands, and a Dutch operating partner collapsed.

Administrator Teneo tried to hash out a buyout with House of Fraser, only for the department store chain to pull out.

Kelvin, who opened Ted Baker as a shirt shop in Glashow in 1988, resigned in 2018.

The brand’s reputation took another blow when a massive accounting error was discovered the following year, leaving a £58million hole in its balance sheet.

In early 2020, three out of four employees were furloughed – about 2,000 people – from those behind the tills to its head office amid the pandemic.

Ted Baker has been approached for comment. Teneo declined to comment.

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