Six Harris Scarfe stores close in Queensland

The administrators of a troubled national department store chain have shut the door on six of its Queensland stores as they try to find a white knight to buy or recapitalise the retailer.

SIX of Queensland’s Harris Scarfe stores have closed as part of a restructure to breathe new life into the troubled retailer.

Department stores at Cairns, Hervey Bay, Mackay, Morayfield, Rockhampton and Townsville were among 21 across Australia closed by administrators of Harris Scarfe.

Chermside and Carindale will remain as the company’s only Queensland stores. Interested buyers of the 170-year-old Australian retailer, which collapsed into administration on December 12, are now undergoing due diligence with administrators from Deloitte.

Deloitte expects to spend the next 10 days assessing offers and working with the shortlisted parties to address final queries “with a view to agreeing a sale/recapitalisation deal which will see Harris Scarfe emerge from administration”.

“The Harris Scarfe team has done an outstanding job at presenting the business during this process,” a Deloitte spokesman said. “We could not have hoped for any better support from everyone in the business, the stores look great and they present the business exceptionally well and the management team have done a great job during the sale process.” Prior to the administration Haris Scarfe employed more than 1800 people across network of 66 stores with annual sales of $380 million.