Ritika Janiya
A flooring firm, The Floor Room, selling carpets and laminate from John Lewis stores, has gone bust and entered administration. In the wake of this, nearly 200 staff members will be made redundant. Their stores closed with immediate effect and customers are in doubt regarding their orders. Efforts are underway in a bid to manage the fall out and help the affected customers and staff.
A Sad Goodbye for The Floor Room: What Really Went Wrong?
The Floor Room has collapsed. This company used to sell a wide variety of flooring from within John Lewis stores. Of course, this is very disappointing news for the employees of the company and, of course, for people who use the products. Let’s take a look at what happened and why The Floor Room had to shut down.
It was a business offering carpets, laminate, and other flooring. They had their own shop in London and had concessions—a shop within a shop—inside 34 John Lewis shops. Everything seemed to go well until last Friday when the company went into administration. This means that The Floor Room had such serious financial problems that they required external intervention to manage their debts and close down their business.
The Unexpected Shutdown
It was reported last Friday that all The Floor Room sections in John Lewis stores had closed “immediately.” On a very real level, this came as a surprise to many people, not to mention orders actually being placed at the firm. Almost 200 employees lost their jobs, and remaining stores were abruptly shut.
John Lewis, the large chain of department stores, may not own The Floor Room, but it is working hard to determine how this closure affects both customers and staff. They are doing their best to understand the situation and find out exactly how they can help those that are affected by it. They have pledged to try their utmost to support any person who ordered from The Floor Room with an outstanding order.
What About the Orders?
If you had an order with The Floor Room, you’re probably wondering, now what? Since the company is closed, they will not be able to complete—nor deliver—any of these orders. John Lewis has suggested customers contact their credit card companies to determine if they might be able to get a refund for any payments made. This, therefore, is an important step for all those waiting with their flooring and more so a number who have paid the money in advance.
Role of Carpetright
So, why has The Floor Room ended up in this tough spot? The company was closely linked to another business called Carpetright. Carpetright is a very well-known store selling flooring too. Recently, Carpetright faced its own big problems and went into administration last month. What this means is that Carpetright was really struggling with its finances and had to make many of its employees jobless.
The Floor Room relied heavily on Carpetright for support and services. Unfortunately, a cyber attack on Carpetright in April rubbed salt into the wound. This attack must have made things harder for Carpetright and indirectly for The Floor Room to work with much ease.
The Final Blow
According to Adam Seres, an administrator at PwC, the management of The Floor Room had been trying to find a solution for either receiving more money or selling to someone else and continuing its business, but things did not work. After Carpetright’s crisis and, subsequently, all their financial problems, it became obvious that The Floor Room could not continue its operations.
Seres said that the company’s financial position made it impossible to continue trading. This made the tough decision of winding up the business and almost completely letting off all its employees very difficult. The administrators will at all times ensure that the redundancy claims of workers are handled quickly, which means they will help workers get their final payments and support.
Looking Ahead
Even in this sorry situation, there will still be some people who are willing to hang around a little while longer and who can help close down the business. They will be useful in the final stages of shutdown and making sure everything is closed out properly.
In the final analysis, the sudden closure of The Floor Room has made life hard on all those associated with the business. It definitely is one of the tough times the company has to face when almost 200 people are out of a job and customers are waiting for their orders. Efforts, however, have been rendered in place to support all those affected and deal with the fallout from this unreal end.
