Future of longstanding Littlehampton store decided after company goes into administration

The future of a Littlehampton store has been decided after the company went into administration.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

M&Co, which has had a presence in the town for more than 40 years, appointed administrators in April as the coronavirus outbreak forced most UK retailers to close for almost four months.

The administration process, managed by Deloitte, will see store numbers cut from 265 to 218, with around 380 redundancies from more than 2,600 workers in total.

The High Street branch is a store that has been saved.

Littlehampton shops reopening after lockdown. Photo by Derek Martin PhotographyLittlehampton shops reopening after lockdown. Photo by Derek Martin Photography
Littlehampton shops reopening after lockdown. Photo by Derek Martin Photography
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

M&Co’s chief executive Andy McGeoch said: “It quickly became clear that best way to save most jobs and most stores was to enter administration, with a new company acquiring the assets of the old business, and this process has now been finalised. Covid has been by far the biggest challenge our family business has faced in almost 60 years, and I am really pleased that we have been able to maintain a presence in over 200 communities.

Covid-19 means many people don’t feel comfortable travelling on public transport or visiting busy city centres and that can be good news for local High Street stores like M&Co. That’s why we are looking at ways of working in partnership with other local retailers to highlight the tremendous range of shopping that can be found in communities like this all over the country.

“Local economies rely to a huge degree on their town centres and we have seen too many High Streets hollowed out by successive shop closures. More and more people are beginning to realise that, if they don’t support their town centres, everyone’s quality of living really takes a hit, so we are proud to be playing a part in the drive to shop locally.

“The response from our customers during lockdown was phenomenal. We had a steady stream of requests for updates via M&Co’s Facebook pages, with some customers even posting letters through the doors asking when we were reopening. It’s hugely encouraging to hear our customers say how much they have missed us after months away.”

M&Co was founded in 1961 and has expanded from its Scottish roots to towns throughout the UK.