Five Scottish store among closures at Walmsley’s

FURNITURE retailer Walmsley’s yesterday became the latest casualty of the consumer downturn after the West Midlands-based firm fell into administration.

Private equity group SKG bought 25 of the 63 stores from administrators at Leonard Curtis, but the remaining stores were closed, including branches at Airdrie, Dalkeith, Dundee, Irvine and Paisley.

The branches saved by the new owner include outlets in Bathgate, Dumfries, Falkirk and Kirkcaldy.

SKG last year bought Suffolk-based furniture maker Mark Elliot, which has seven branches in England and Wales, out of administration.

The collapse of Walmsley’s – which specialises in sofas, beds and dining furniture – follows the recent demise of Floors-2-Go, Lombok and the UK arm of iconic chain Habitat.

In 2008, Walmsley’s was accused of selling sofas that left people with rashes and burns.

The company – along with Argos and Land of Leather – were alleged to have imported sofas from China containing a chemical fungicide called “dimethyl fumarate”.

More than 5,000 people joined a group litigation, making it the largest consumer-injury class action in UK history.

The chemical was subsequently banned and around 1,650 people are understood to have received compensation worth £20 million.