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Published
Feb 26, 2018
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Pavers finally wins Jones Bootmaker as Endless bows out

Published
Feb 26, 2018

Footwear specialist Pavers may have missed out on snapping up failing chain Jones Bootmaker nearly a year ago but it’s now buying the brand from the company that pipped it to the post in 2017.


Jones Bootmaker



It means Jones is seeing a change of ownership for the second time in a year reflecting just how tough times are on the high street.

Investment company Endless, which acquired Jones for £11 million in March 2017, has sold it it to privately-held Pavers, although we don’t know the purchase price and whether Endless has made a profit or loss on its brief period of ownership. But the deal is via a pre-pack administration, suggesting that Endless’s stewardship of the brand may not have been a happy one.

“Despite substantial investment and best efforts, the recent adverse retail conditions have meant that the Jones business could not be turned around and needed to be part of a larger group,” Endless said in a statement.

Jones has already closed a number of unsustainable stores and it seems that some more will close with this deal. But we won’t see a large closure programme with just five of the 47 sites set to be axed. That should mean almost 400 of the 475 staff Jones employs will stay with the firm, although the Jones head office is on the closure list with 50 jobs to be lost there.
 
Pavers itself has roughly 1,300 employees and trades from around 130 stores, as well as having a home shopping TV channel. Based in York, it was founded in 1971 Catherine Paver and is now run by her son Stuart.

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