THE COMET store in Lakeside is to close its doors for the last time today (Tuesday), bringing the failed electrical retailer’s 79-year history to an end.
Luckily, it is one of the few “failures” in the Lakeside area. Even this week, the news was punctuated with the opening of Kiddicare and Forever 21.
That will, however, be scant consolation to the staff, who lose their jobs today.
Of the 236 stores the firm presided over when it went into administration last month, only 49 are still open.
On Monday, administrators Deloitte said unsecured creditors would get back less than 1% of the money owed to them.
The chain’s collapse will also cost the government £49.4m in redundancy payments and foregone tax revenues reports the BBC.
The redundancy money owed to thousands of former Comet workers totals £23.2m and will be paid by the government’s Redundancy Payments Service (RPS).
Meanwhile, £26.2m is owed in taxes to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which is one of dozens of unsecured creditors of the retailer who are owed a total of £233m, none of which will be repaid.
