Iconic Sydney manchester and soft-furnishings chain Mansours has been placed in liquidation and 21 of its 29 stores have been shut immediately, with the loss of around 50 jobs.
The chain, which has been owned by the Mansour family since it established the first store in Queensland in 1906, was placed in liquidation by Peter Mansour on Friday.
BRI Ferrier principal Martin Green, who is handling the liquidation, says the business is in a “dreadful state”.
“This is a bit of a disaster in the sense that the business have been fairly run down, for want of a better description. I think they’ve been struggling for some time but have probably had more difficulty in the last four or five months.”
Green says the Christmas trading period was poor and suppliers have withdrawn their support in recent months, leading to stock levels dropping dramatically.
The only bright spot is that Green has negotiated the sale of eight stores, conditional on the approval of Mansours secured creditor. He would not reveal the name of the creditor, but says it is owed less than $500,000.
“The stores will continue to trade almost immediately, and that would see some 25 odd staff have ongoing employment,” Green says.
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James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
