Barely a week following the re-opening of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) store at 87 High Street in Rye, a notice has appeared on the door of the shop informing customers that administrators have been appointed to Duvetco Ltd., trading as Ponden Home. This is understood to be a sister and subsidiary company of EWM, which itself was placed in administration in early November as reported in the trade magazine Retail Gazette.
Joint Administrators named are Anthony Wright and Alastair Massey of FRP Advisory, specialists in the area of corporate restructuring. An announcement made last month that 56 EWM stores had now permanently closed, appeared to indicate that the Rye store was to be one of the remaining 328 stores which will continue to trade.
This latest development contradicts this and was reinforced by another notice (since removed) that said "Closing Down Sale." In response to our request for further information, the administrators have advised that they are exploring options for the future of the businesses and are looking for a buyer.
