Allders

Administration, 2004–2005

In September 2004, Minerva announced that Allders had made a loss of £22.6m for the year to 30 June 2004, blaming the speed of the transformation of the business. In December 2004, it announced the business was up for sale. There was some early interest that Primark was to purchase some of the stores but no interest was found in taking on the company as a whole and it was placed in administration on 26 January 2005. It was revealed that there was a pensions deficit of £15 million. 130 of the staff at the Croydon headquarters were laid off, including Green and other senior managers. An under-construction store at the Drake Circus Shopping Centre in Plymouth was never opened and was split into stores for Next and Primark when the centre opened in October 2006.

Kroll, the administrators, searched for buyers for the chain or individual stores. Of Allders' 50 stores, only 35 received offers, with rival retailers such as House of Fraser, BHS, Debenhams and Primark said to have expressed an interest. The ten remaining stores, including the Oxford Street branch, began closing-down sales on 5 February and had started to close from March 2005: all had closed by May 2005 with the Leeds store being the last to close down on 22 May 2005, with the exception of Croydon.

Croydon store, 2005–2013

In May 2005 it was announced that the owners of Jaeger would take on the flagship Croydon store and that it would continue to trade as Allders. In the first year of operation the new managing director, Andrew MacKenzie, turned the fortunes of the company around and projected a £1 million gross profit. Significant investment was made to attract back to the store its Croydon audience. It was the only Allders store to survive the 2005 administration.

In April 2006 it was announced that Allders had secured an extension to their lease through to 2008. The land and store that Allders leased had regular break clauses to the benefit of the "virtual freehold leaseholder" held by Minerva plc subsidiary companies for 250 years. The freehold interest was held by the Whitgift Foundation. Development plans by Minerva for a 1.08 million sq.ft shopping centre were complicated by uncertainty over its tenancy, and competition from the new 1.615 million sq.ft Westfield development at White City, and the 1.3 million sq.ft shopping development at Bluewater to the east of London.

In December 2011, Allders director Max Menon was named as new chairman of Croydon Business Improvement District.

Allders of Croydon was placed into administration on 15 June 2012. It was blamed on the "tough market conditions of the retail sector" at the time. The administrators Duff & Phelps failed in their search for a new investor and Allders finally closed down after the last day of trading on 22 September 2012. It was reported in Scotland on Sunday that Metis, a Glasgow-based intellectual property firm were looking to sell brands that were owned by Allders. Along with the Allders name, the administrators were seeking to sell furniture brands Maples and Waring & Gillow. Allders ceased trading on 17 January 2013. Later that year the Croydon building reopened as "Croydon Village Outlet".

In July 2019, Croydon Council took possession of the site as part of the proposed redevelopment of the Centrale and Whitgift Centre shopping malls. Businesses and franchises within the Village Outlet had to move or close altogether.

In 2018 Allders purchased the rights to the Co-op Department Store in Paisley, Renfrewshire, at the Paisley Centre and set up a department store on three floors. In May 2021 it was announced by Allders that the Paisley Store was to close down and a closing down sale began, closing in July 2021