Horseplay and The Luggage Shop close

by GD Fri 24 Oct 2008, 7:05 pm

Jersey's party store Horseplay and The Luggage Shop have closed after their parent company went into liquidation.

For Horseplay, 12 staff will lose their jobs when the shop stops trading at the end of January.

The news comes just days after 101 toys said that it would also stop trading in a few months time.

Roy Real, Horseplay employee told channelonline.tv; "Myself or the others, we don't have any employment we have to look for work which i don't think is going to be possible anyway, not at this time of the year."

The announcements have now prompted questions about what is being done to help small businesses. The Guernsey owners have blamed spiralling rent and GST for the failure of the business.

Dave Warr, Jersey Chamber Small Business Group, said; "I think what we've seen right now in Jersey is just a slight tightening up of spending happening. Nothing dramatic yet I couldn't say the recession's hitting us right now and we're all desperately laying off staff i don't think that's the case. I just think businesses are paying a lot more attention now to their overheads than maybe they were 6 months ago."

The States say they are working on a range of measures to help small businesses survive.

Phillip Ozouf added; "We've asked the treasury for 1.4 million pounds top up for our economic growth fund, which will be used for, for example further improving the availability of finance under the small loan guarantee scheme, further business advice for small and medium sized businesses and a whole range of measures in order to help businesses which are clearly going to be facing much more difficult times over the next 2 years." (from Channelonline)