All six employees at the M&Co store in the capital are breathing a sigh of relief after being told it has been saved following a financial restructuring exercise.

The company, which has had a presence in the town for more than 16 years, appointed administrators in April as the coronavirus outbreak forced the closure of most retailers during the lockdown.

A total of six staff work for the shop which is in Chester Street, Douglas. But it is not all good news for the Renfrewshire-based company.

The administration business, managed by Deloitte, will see the number of storesreduced from 265 to 218 stores, with around 380 redundancies from a total workforce of more than 2,600.

The Chester Street shop is one of the stores to be saved in the restructuring exercise which has preserved over 2,200 jobs.

M&Co’s chief executive Andy McGeoch said: ’It quickly became clear that best way to save most jobs and most stores was to enter administration, with a new company acquiring the assets of the old business, and this process has now been finalised.

’Covid has been by far the biggest challenge our family business has faced in almost 60 years, and I am really pleased that we have been able to maintain a presence in over 200 communities

’We are looking at ways of working in partnership with other local retailers to highlight the tremendous range of shopping that can be found in communities like this all over the country.

’Local economies rely to a huge degree on their town centres and we have seen too many high streets hollowed out by successive shop closures. More and more people are beginning to realise that, if they don’t support their town centres, everyone’s quality of living really takes a hit, so we are proud to be playing a part in the drive to shop locally. ’

lIn our sister paper the Manx Independent we reported that Hays Travel has announced that it is to cut up to 878 jobs out of a total workforce of 4,500 people.

Hays Travel has a shop in Strand Street, Douglas.

lMarks and Spencer announced last month that it’s to cut 950 jobs across the company and that includes the island’s store. The high street stalwart has confirmed the Douglas branch is part of the UK-wide restructuring.