The near century-old vacuum cleaner retailer Godfreys will shut down, leaving hundreds of people out of a job after administrators failed to sell the business.

Godfreys’ administrators PwC said it conducted a comprehensive sale process but no viable offers were submitted. PwC had been working on a restructure plan and hoped to return it to profitability by closing stores and cutting costs. Now an estimated 200 staff are out of work – nearly all in Australia.