THE future of 76-year-old discount retailer Ethel Austin is once more under threat after the group called in administrators for the second time in two years.
Ethel Austin, which has its headquarters in Liverpool and a network of nearly 300 stores, and its sister homewares chain Au Naturale appointed MCR as administrator after the business failed to turn around following its rescue from collapse in May, 2008.
Hundreds of jobs now hang in the balance as MCR seeks to find a buyer.
The firm has a store at the Middlebrook retail park, in Horwich, and Market Street, in Farnworth.
The administrator said it could not rule out store closures and redundancies as it goes through the embattled retailer’s books.
Ethel Austin employs more than 3,700 people across the country.
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