At the beginning of this year Dick Smith went into voluntary administration. Today its receivers have announced that all 363 stores across Australia and New Zealand will be closed over the next eight weeks.
2890 staff members will be affected by the closures.
According to the receiver James Stewart, offers received simply weren’t high enough.
“While we received a significant number of expressions of interest from local and overseas parties, unfortunately the sale process has not resulted in any acceptable offers for the group as a whole or for Australia or New Zealand as standalone businesses,”he said. “The offers were either significantly below liquidation values or highly conditional or both.
“We would particularly like to thank the Dick Smith employees for their support and patience during the receivership process.”
According to recent reports, Dick Smith owes 3200 employees $2 million in unpaid wages. According to the receivers, these staff members will rank as priority creditors and are expected to be paid in full.
Update: Dick Smith will be holding a fire sale of remaining stock in all stores, to begin Friday 26 February — tomorrow. Head to Lifehacker for more details.