Store stays open as flooring firm looks for buyer

BRITAIN’S biggest wood and laminate flooring retailer has gone into administration — but its Oldham store remains open.

Floors-2-Go has become the latest victim of the struggling housing market and was forced to call in business insolvency experts Kroll earlier this week.

The adminstrators are looking for a buyer for the Birmingham–based group, but they immediately closed 41 of the group’s 132 stores, cutting 97 of the chain’s 450 staff.

However, the Oldham store in Quebec Street, Westwood, continues to trade.

Nationally, sales have been hit by the depressed housing market and a resulting fall in home improvement spending.

Kroll partner Fraser Gray said: “Retailers are battling a particularly hostile trading environment at present and it is clear that the pain is being felt acutely in the home improvements sector.”

Mr Gray added that the business would continue to trade while administrators weighed up the options.

“Floors–2–Go has a strong brand, a well–dispersed nationwide network of stores, an established online presence and a contracts division, so despite the harsh trading conditions we remain hopeful of selling the business as a going concern,” he said.