For Peats sake! Dublin electronics store closes down after 78 years

The Dublin electronic store Peats World of Electronics has announced today that it has gone into liquidation after 78 years in business.

The announcement was made by chairman Ben Peat, who informed staff at the company's head office on Parnell Street that it could no longer continue trading. The business was first established in 1934 and today's news has meant to closing down of 11 stores and 75 job losses.

“It is evident in our experience that consumers have little discretionary spend at this time and sales volumes are up to 50 per cent down on peak 2007 spend, while in parallel it has not been possible to achieve appropriate rental adjustment to enable a profit margin to be achieved to sustain business viability,” said Peat.

“The sector in which we operate has been disproportionately affected by the downturn, if we don’t close now our capacity to settle our affairs to best effect will only further deteriorate.

"The company had a fine heritage for quality, decency and value, it became a popular name on the Dublin retail landscape and its departure from the high street will be a loss to the tradition of family retailing in Dublin,” he added.

In addition to the 11 stores around Dublin, Peats also operated a number of Sony Centre stores, all of which have been closed following today's announcement.

[Pic via World of Worlds.au]