Quiz fails for second time in latest high street blow – Daily Business

Quiz Clothing, the Glasgow-based fashion retailer, has collapsed for a second time and more than 100 staff have been made redundant.

Alistair McAlinden and Geoff Jacobs from Interpath have today been appointed joint administrators to Orion Retail, Tarak International and Zandra Systems, collectively trading as Quiz Clothing.

It currently operates from 40 stores across the UK and seven concessions across the Republic of Ireland, as well as online. It employs circa 565 members of staff.

All stores will remain open and staff retained while the adminstrators seek a buyer, but there will be 109 redundancies across the head office in Glasgow and distribution centre in Bellshill, Lanarkshire.

The company was founded by entrepreneur Tarak Ramzan in 1993 as a single shop and joined the London Stock Exchange in 2017, delivering a £92 million windfall to nine Ramzan family members. Investment giants Schroders and BlackRock participated in the £200m listing.

However, the company issued a number of profit warnings and after its share price plummeted it opted to delist.

Last year, the Ramzan family bought back the business through a pre-pack administration deal after closing 23 stores.

There were early signs that the rescue plan was working, but over the past 12 months, the business has experienced challenging trading conditions.

While sales were reported to be stronger than anticipated through to the end of September 2025, they fell below expectations during the crucial Christmas trading period, both online and in-store.

In addition, Quiz had to contend with strong economic headwinds including changing consumer habits, cost pressures from business rates and the recent increases to employment costs.

In response to these challenges, the directors worked tirelessly to explore options to safeguard the future of Quiz, and Daily Business reported last week that it was seeking new sources of funding.

However, with no solvent solutions available, the directors took the “difficult decision” to place these companies into insolvency.

Following their appointment, the joint administrators will continue to trade all 40 stores and seven concessions as a going concern while they assess options for the business. The company’s online store, however, will close.

Alistair McAlinden, head of Interpath in Scotland and joint administrator, said: “With Quiz the latest retailer to fall into administration, there’s no doubt it’s been a tough start to 2026 for the UK high street.

“It’s our intention to continue to trade all stores and the concessions in Ireland as a going concern for as long as we can while we assess options for the business. We are tremendously grateful for the support of Quiz’s employees and directors who will work alongside us as we trade the business over the coming weeks.”

Geoff Jacobs, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, added: “Any parties with an interest in acquiring the stock, store operations and infrastructure of Quiz should contact us as a matter of urgency.

“We are ensuring that those employees impacted by redundancy are provided with all available support at this difficult time.”

Quiz concessions which trade from New Look and Matalan stores in the UK, are not part of the administration processes.

The company joins a list of retailers including Original Factory Store, Claire’s Accessories, and Russell & Bromley which have run into difficulties in recent weeks.