Max Spielmann Job Losses

HIGH street, market leader, Max Spielmann has called in the administrator after over 130 years of trading. This well-known brand name has grown rapidly in recent years.

The company operating in 2008 was formed when the families of two rival Glasgow laundries, the Bowies and the Kennedys, joined forces in the 1960's. Over the last few years, Max Spielmann has been taking over many of its rival groups. One of the most important moves came in 2001. It was in 2001 the photographic firm Max Spielmann merged with Glasgow-based Bowie-Castlebank Ltd., after a team from KPMG Corporate Finance in Manchester advised on the deal. This deal lead to the closure of its film processing plant in Wirral, but some staff were offered employment at its new distribution centre nearby.

It is unclear as to what has gone so wrong at this point, but it is further bad news for the High Street. It is also very bad news for Merseyside, as the firm not only has many outlets throughout the area, but it also employs many others from Merseyside in its warehouse in Chester.

It is estimated that the company presently employs 1,664 people across group’s network of shops, its processing centre in Wishaw, head office in Glasgow and warehouse in Chester. There are 197 branches of Klick and 117 of the England-based Max Spielman, while approximately 60 Klick stores also provide outlets for Munro Cleaners. All Munro outlets are based in Scotland. An ex-employee told us:- "We do not know what has happened. We got an idea something was odd when they reduced hours, but they seemed to be making money, lots of money.

Zavvi hit by Woolworths’ Closures

MORE bad news hits as the economic downturn leads to job cuts by the luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin, the car accessory retailer Halfords and the leading bank HSBC. The announcements are of no surprise now, but the collapse of Woolworths is still having unforeseen side effects. It is now threatening the entertainment outlet, Zavvi, which announced that it would be suspending its website operations over Christmas and cancelling all outstanding online Christmas orders.  Zavvi posted this message to customers on 9 December 2008:- "As you may know, Woolworths plc and Entertainment UK Ltd have entered administration. Whilst Zavvi is not part of either company, Entertainment UK Ltd is zavvi.co.uk’s main supplier. Due to this ongoing situation, we are currently unable to provide the high level of service we aim to deliver to our customers, and have temporarily suspended taking online orders until the supply situation is resolved. We have cancelled orders that we are unable to fulfil, and you should have received an email if your order has been affected. Any payment that has been taken will be refunded in full. To check an order status, go to your account and select the order you wish to check. You can still browse through thousands of entertainment products; read staff and customer reviews; preview trailers and sample tracks; and enter fantastic competitions. And, of course, you can still shop at our 125 Zavvi stores across the UK and Ireland, where we continue to have good stock availability. To find your nearest store, use the store locator link. We are doing all we can to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience. Thank you for your custom and we hope to resume normal service in the near future."

Customers who have placed online orders have been told that :- "Due to the uncertainty of supplies from Entertainment UK, all outstanding orders will be cancelled, since we are unable to guarantee delivery prior to Christmas. This process has started and you will receive email confirmation if this applies to you. Please be assured that if we have taken payment you will receive a full refund. We apologise for any inconvenience."

This could be a major blow to the company, which bought the Virgin Megastore chain last year, as it could not have hit at a worse time. This uncertainty of supplies from Entertainment UK, might put people off using Zavvi in 2009.  The problem has also meant that they will have to to return large amounts of cash for the online Christmas orders.  Entertainment UK (EUK) was the UK's leading distributor of entertainment products. Originally founded in 1966, EUK has evolved into a highly sophisticated business, providing a range of services and expertise at every stage of the retail supply chain. It is now unclear if there will be other businesses caught up in the fall-out, following the collapse of the Woolworths plc. group. EUK also worked in tandem with Tesco, Morrisons and WHSmith, but as of yet no other problems have been reported.  Email our newsroom your views on this topic and any other related stories.