A POPULAR high street retailer is set to close all of its Irish stores today, it has been confirmed.
The popular Ted Baker chain, which operates seven outlets across Ireland, including on Grafton Street and in Arnott’s in the capital, is shutting down for good today.
And the shops in Blanchardstown, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Kildare will also shut their doors for the final time.
The closure comes after the company behind the Ted Baker chain collapsed in the United Kingdom, forcing a mass closure across Ireland and the UK.
Ted Baker’s EU website is showing a message that it is “not taking orders right now”.
The site is also no longer accepting returns from outside the UK.
Ted Baker’s Ireland website is doing a massive online clearance sale, with everything up to 50 per cent off on the majority of the products as they slowly exit the Irish market.
In 2022, the store put itself up on the market for sale due to the pandemic-related losses during the Covid-19 crisis.
Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which also owns brands such as Juicy Couture and Forever 21, bought it out for around £211m (€247,718,220).
Retail Ireland Director Arnold Dillion stated that the cost of living crisis and recovery from the long-term impact of the pandemic are part of a large issue facing retailers at the moment.
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Talking to Breakfast Business with Joe Lynam, he said: “A lot of retailers across the country are facing very challenging conditions.
“We saw in July that retail sales were down 2 per cent on last year, but when you drill into that, clothing and fashion sales are down 6 per cent.
“The market hasn’t fully recovered from the acute cost-of-living pressures we saw last year, and footfall remains a concern in many areas, affecting the attractiveness of our towns and cities.”
‘Spiralling costs’
He stated that he is more cautious about the “spiralling costs of doing business” in Ireland as many businesses are facing steep labour market cost increases.
He continued: “In particular, the labour market costs that are coming through the system.
“We saw a Government report in March of this year that suggested, if you take together the range of Government-supported labour market reforms coming through, retail businesses are facing labour market cost increases in the order of 37% over the next number of years.
“That’s just too much to bear for many businesses.”
The sudden closure wasn’t announced publicly and remained under the radar until it was alerted to Joe Duffy, the host of RTE’s Liveline, on August 15.
The host revealed on his show that the closures “got no publicity whatsoever” until it was mentioned on the show when a member of staff contacted RTE.
Under the radar
He said: “They’re closing on Tuesday, as far as I know.
“The reason why people did not know that, and I think people should be told, is because they were specifically told not to put up a closing down sign.
“If you have a concession, in BTs (Brown Thomas) or Arnotts or wherever else, you are not allowed put up a sign saying ‘Closing Down’ because then everyone might think the whole store is closing.
“That means that all the staff are going to be gone, the great hard-working staff in Ted Baker, a lot of them have been there for years and years and years, they’ll be gone next Tuesday and the people who go into them on a regular basis are not allowed say goodbye because they won’t know they’re going.
“But Ted Baker have confirmed they are closing immediately in Ireland – every single store, every single concession.
“The whole retail business is in trouble, the whole online world is exploding, people are saying online the cost of rates, rent, various other taxes that you have to pay in Ireland, insurance, but Ted Baker is going.
“So if you are in Ted Baker, will you say goodbye to the staff and wish them well for a start?
“And hope they do get other employment.”
