Hundreds of jobs to go in the region as Boohoo snaps up Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton

A Dorothy Perkins Burton shop - set to vanish from Britain's high streets. Credit: PA

Hundreds of jobs have been lost locally with the closure of Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton, which have been bought by the clothes website Boohoo for £25.2 million.

The takeover will see Leeds losing 18 outlets and Sheffield 16 with most towns and cities in the region seeing at least one closure.

The deal is for the inventory, e-commerce and digital assets of the businesses, which were owned by Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia retail empire when it entered administration in December.

But it does not include the brands’ 214 remaining shops, which will close, according to administrators from Deloitte. Staff were emailed this morning (February 8th ) and will be informed during the day.

Around 260 jobs, mainly head office roles, will be saved as they move with the brands to Boohoo. These include jobs in design, buying and merchandising, and the businesses’ digital wings.

Some other staff will be kept on during a months-long transition period, Deloitte said.

The deal will see the brands transfer over to online fashion giant Boohoo, whose fortunes have increased as those of its high street predecessors waned.

Boohoo chief executive John Lyttle said: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of the assets associated with the online businesses of the three established brands Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis.'

Arcadia was long one of the biggest players on the UK high street, but the Covid-19 pandemic dealt a final blow to the business, which had struggled with a shift in shopping behaviour in recent years.

In December it entered administration, putting thousands of jobs on the line. While the business’s demise has been partly brought about by a shift to online retail, its brands will now continue to live online, after several deals.

Last week Boohoo rival Asos, also an online player, signed a £330 million deal to buy Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT from Arcadia.

Administrators have now sold all of Arcadia’s brands, raising around £500 million to pay off creditors. There is still some property in the portfolio left to selL.