Tough times for Peterborough staff of Claire's and The Original Factory Shop as retailers edge near administration

Accessories retailer Claire’s has shops in the Queensgate Shopping Centre and the Serpentine Green Shopping Centre in Hampton while discounter The Original Factory Shop has premises at High Causeway in Whittlesey.

It is not known exactly how many staff in Peterborough are employed by the retailers but nationally 2,500 jobs are thought to be at risk.

Both retailers were bought last year by investment company Modella Capital, which is also the owner of the former WH Smith and Hobbycraft.

While Modella has overseen a recent restructure of Claire’s and The Original Factory Shop, it says neither is expected to trade profitably again.

A spokesman for the company said: “We have worked intensively in an effort to save both businesses, having made last-ditch attempts to rescue them, but neither has a realistic possibility of trading profitably again.

“In these circumstances, administration is the only option.

“In both cases, the legacy effects of trading prior to our ownership left them highly vulnerable.”

It means 1,355 employees in the UK and Ireland at 154 Claire’s shops will be put at risk, and 1,220 staff across 140 The Original Factory Shop’s stores.

A Modella spokesman said: "A combination of very weak consumer confidence, highly adverse government fiscal policies and continued cost inflation is causing many established and much-loved businesses to suffer badly.”

Peterborough entrepreneur Mike Greene, a retailing expert and business mentor, who was Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire in 2011, said: “Retailers like these really needed more tech enabled people on their boards.

"If retailers are not making their products more easily and rapidly available online there is no future for them.

"The high street has really just become a shop window for retailers.

"Retailers have to track the changing demands and needs of their customers to stay successful.”