Five Clarks shops in Northamptonshire under threat as 175-year-old shoe firm seeks rescue deal

Five Clarks shoe shops in Northamptonshire will be under threat if the world-famous company goes ahead with a rescue package.

Sky News is reporting a takeover deal led by a Hong Kong-based private equity firm depends on creditors approving a company voluntary arrangement.

That could mean axing up to 50 of Clarks' 500 shops nationwide. The chain currently has shops in Northampton, Wellingborough, Daventry, Rushden Lakes and Kettering.

The loss of the Northampton store would be another body blow to the town centre in an area of Abington Street where Marks & Spencer, BHS and Clintons have all closed and next-door neighbours Tesco are set to move out early next year.

Clarks, founded in 1825 by Cyrus and James Clark, revealed last year it would be pulling out of high streets after falls in sales and cut almost 1,000 head office roles in May 2020.

Patrick O’Brien, UK Retail Research Director at leading data and analytics company GlobalData, said: “Clarks is in a typical midmarket squeeze: like M&S it is a heritage brand that has been too slow to adapt to a changing market – both in terms of product development and addressing the shift to online.

"The footwear specialist’s share of the UK footwear market has plummeted in recent years with Clarks falling from the market leader in 2014 to the third biggest player in 2019, overtaken by the leading sports retailers.

"At the end of its FY2019, Clarks had 521 stores in the UK, including concessions, and while it began a portfolio review in 2017, it really should have started the process of eliminating stores much earlier.

"Progress has been at a snail’s pace – while it has shut some concessions it had the same number of full price stores in the UK at the end of 2019 as it did at the end of 2018.”