Department store retailer Harris Scarfe has gone into receivership just two weeks before Christmas, and less than a month after owner Greenlit Brands agreed to sell the chain to private equity firm Allegro Funds.

Deloitte Restructuring Services partners Vaughan Strawbridge, Kathryn Evans and Tim Norman were appointed receivers and managers over Harris Scarfe by a secured lender on Wednesday following the appointment of Andrew Sallway and Duncan Clubb of BDO as voluntary administrators earlier in the day.