Zavvi to close another 15 stores

More than half of Zavvi's stores have been closed this year

The administrators of Zavvi, the music, games and DVD chain have announced the immediate closure of another 15 stores, with the loss of 295 jobs.

They have now closed 55 UK stores, with 826 job losses, since the company went into administration on Christmas Eve.

The remaining 48 stores in the UK will remain open. The administrators are hoping to sell the business and have no plans to close the whole store network.

The troubled chain has been badly affected by the demise of Woolworths.

"With reducing stock levels we have had to manage our cost base accordingly and close a further 15 stores," said Tom Jack at administrator Ernst & Young.

STORE CLOSURES AND JOB LOSSES Birmingham, 29 Bromley, 28 Canterbury, 13 Colchester, 17 East Kilbride, 7 Exeter, 28 Ipswich, 17 Kensington, London, 15 Kings Road, London, 23 Merry Hill, 21 Newcastle, 31 Norwich, 25 Oxford, 16 Stirling, 8 Taunton, 17

"At this time, we are continuing to look to further progress interest from a number of interested parties and consequently do not have a formal closure plan for the entire network," he added.

Zavvi's main supplier was Woolworths' unit Entertainment UK (EUK), which went into administration in late November.

Since then, Zavvi has had difficulties in sourcing stock and has been forced to enter new trading arrangements.

Before the company fell into administration, it operated a network of 114 stores in the UK.

Nine have since been sold to HMV, two were due for closure before the administrators were called in, and 55 have been closed by Ernst & Young.

Zavvi was formed after a management buy-out of the Virgin Megastore division of the Virgin Group in September 2007.