Jacob's Conceptstore recordsdata for chapter: "We've 24 hours to get all our stuff from the shops"

Retail chain Jacob’s Concepstore recordsdata for chapter. Merchants are given 24 hours to go away the place the place they’re promoting their items. That is evident from an electronic mail despatched by supervisor Thomas Nouws on Monday. The chain had been in unhealthy form for a number of months.

READ IN. Merchants from Jacob’s Conceptstore write an open letter: “New shops are opening, however we nonetheless have 45,000 credit”

Native entrepreneurs bought their handmade items at Jacob’s Conceptstore. You will discover present and ornamental objects akin to candles, frames, flower pots and jewelry. In a number of years, the shop grew like loopy and opened a minimum of 22 branches, however just lately issues have gone downhill.

Merchants from the Antwerp-Hoogstraat, Lier, Mechelen, Hasselt and Bruges branches acquired an electronic mail from supervisor Thomas Nouws on Easter Monday asking them to evacuate the retailers and vacate the premises by Tuesday night time. On the chain’s web site, which is now offline, the variety of branches was now reduce from 22 to 11 shops.

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Thomas Nouws in Jacob’s Conceptstore in Antwerp – © Joris Herregods

Merchants complained about late funds regardless of a number of guarantees. Various collectors additionally began assortment procedures. “Nouws was supposed to inform us on Might 17 in regards to the scenario, however we’ve not heard something extra,” mentioned a dealer. “He promised us he would pay, however not everybody has to see his cash. Steadily some are getting their arrears, however others haven’t acquired something but,” he mentioned.

After months of uncertainty, Nouws determined to drag the plug. “At the moment, Jacob’s Conceptstore is closing its 11 shops and submitting for chapter. We will now not afford our fastened prices. We’re placing down the books regardless of the profitable and widespread shops. We don’t see one other choice to generate extra gross sales in these bodily factors of sale. We deeply remorse this choice and our ideas exit to the various enthusiastic designers,” Nouws explains to our sister newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen.

Jacob’s Conceptstore had been in turbulent waters for a while. In March, the chain’s merchants sounded the alarm after not being paid for a number of months for items they bought by means of the chain in autumn 2023. They heard them itself once more in April as fee issues continued. Whether or not they may ever see their cash once more should be determined by the chapter settlement.