ALMOST 170 jobs are set to go after administrators of Office Outlet revealed the planned closure of 17 stores across the UK.

Restructuring partners at Deloitte were appointed to SUK Retail Ltd trading as Office Outlet last month and have already closed 16 stores with 161 redundancies.

Nine further stores will close on 16 April, and another eight on 23 April, resulting in a total of 167 redundancies.

The stores to close on 16 April are: Birkenhead (8); Blackpool (8); Chelmsford (12); Hayes (10); Hull (9); Reading (7); Swindon (12); Teesside (12); and Telford (11).

The stores to close on 23 April are Altrincham (13); Cambridge (8); Harlow (11); Huddersfield (9); Newport (10); Torquay (9); Truro (8); and Warrington (10).

Richard Hawes, joint administrator, said: “A buyer has yet to come forward for the business in part or in whole and we cannot continue trading all the stores indefinitely in an administration process.
“Therefore we are announcing a further round of store closures that will be completed over the next three weeks, also resulting in a number of redundancies. We are keeping staff informed of developments as they happen in what is a difficult time for them.”

At the time of the administrators’ appointment on 18 March, the company had more than 90 stores nationwide, and about 1,200 employees.

On 26 March 106 redundancies were made at the company’s head office and distribution centre in Daventry, Northamptonshire.

Office Outlet is a retailer of office supplies, business technology, and copy and print services to businesses, homes and schools.