Clive Ranger’s Cardiff store has been saved from closure by Carl Parry, its store manager of 10 years, who has purchased the business.
Parry was handed the keys to the store on Friday May 3 following several weeks of negotiation between himself, the administrator Deloitte and the landlord of the store. Clive Ranger’s three other stores have now closed.
He has worked at the store for 18 years, 10 of which he has been manager. He acquired the store for an undisclosed sum having won financial backing from Clive Ranger customers.
He said: "Following the initial shock of Clive Ranger going into administration and the reality of myself and the staff losing our jobs, I decided to do something positive about it. It would have been a terrible shame to see Clive Ranger disappear after 36 years on the high street. The brand is strong and well known locally.
"I received a lot of encouragement and advice and ultimately funding from some of my best customers without which this venture would not have been possible."
Parry told Professional Jeweller that the news of the administration came out of the blue during a management meeting. After several weeks of not knowing what would happen with the business he decided to email long-term customers and friends of the business to thank them for their support.
While all of them replied a number encouraged him to take over the business and, after approaching the administrators and working closely with Paul Evans, Deloitte’s director of the restructuring services team, he was able to buy the business.
Parry will now oversee the store and its website. He told Professional Jeweller that he plans to continue running the store under the Clive Ranger name as it is a well known in the area.
He has also saved all seven jobs at the store, including three part-time roles, and says suppliers have been positive about the takeover, providing fresh stock for the store during what is a period of consolidation.
While Parry has a lot of plans for the business he explains that "Rome wasn’t built in a day" so time will now be spent re-focusing the business and building on its leaner foudations.
He said: "I have total faith that we can be successful going forward. With the support of our suppliers and continued support of our customers and landlords I am confident that we can be successful in the future.
"I have a great team in the shop who are very supportive and excited about this new adventure we’re taking together, I view this not as my business but as ours as a collective and together we’ll breathe life back into Clive Ranger."
He has spoken with former managing director Richard Slack and Clive Ranger himself, describing both as supportive of the move and happy that the business has been kept in familiar hands.
Clive Ranger’s three other stores, located in Bath, Bristol and Swansea, closed last week after no buyers were found.
