Blokker starts clearance sales

Dutch retailer Blokker has started a clearance sale in its bankrupt shops. Even though the discounts are still limited, the sale is attracting a lot of shoppers.

Limited discounts

In the affected stores (as franchised stores are not part of the bankruptcy), eye-catching posters at most shop windows say that “everything must go”. The stores are “considerably busier”, Dutch tv channel RTL reports, despite all items currently being discounted at ‘just’ 10 or 15 %.

The administrators hope they can secure a partial restart, with parts of the Dutch retail chain still finding a buyer. In the meantime, Blokker still hopes to raise as much money as possible with this clearance sale, which may last until the end of this year. The sale’s proceeds will mostly go to Gordon Brothers, which gave the chain another loan at the time of its collapse in May, giving it stock as collateral.

The 45 franchised stores (out of 394) are not covered by the bankruptcy and they are therefore not holding a sale (for now). However, it is unclear at the moment how they can proceed after their chain’s bankruptcy.