Another business outlet in Crieff’s High Street has fallen on hard times.
Dundee-based chain DE Shoes announced last week that it will be consulting staff about possible voluntary redundancies.
DE Shoes has been a fixture of the town for over 100 years and ironically was featured in last week’s History page of the Herald.
The shoe chain has 31 other outlets across Scotland, including four trading as the Foot Factory. It employs four local people in its Crieff store and 234 people throughout Scotland.
The company is citing the difficult economic climate as the reason behind the announcement.
A spokesperson for the company said: “As with most of retail our business has been going through some incredibly difficult trading. The directors have been continually exploring how the business model could be changed to ensure sustainable profitability.
“However, against the backdrop of such external pressures on customer spending no sustainable business model has been found.
“Therefore, we announced on Friday (January 4) that we would be engaging in a formal process of employee consultation, lasting a minimum of 90 days, before any final decisions with regards to the company or individuals are taken.
“Throughout the consultation we will still be trading, we will still be paying our suppliers and if it does come to any redundancies every employee will receive what they are entitled to.
“The directors will also continue throughout this difficult time to identify any other options open to the company which would avoid or reduce the need to make redundancies.”
Local MSP Roseanna Cunningham told the Herald: “I am very disappointed to learn that the staff at DE Shoes in Crieff are facing redundancy as a consequence of the financial problems facing the troubled chain of shoe shops.
“I very much hope that a buyer can be found for the business and that the Crieff store can be saved.
“DE Shoes occupies premises from which the people of Crieff have been buying shoes for a hundred years so it really would be a big upheaval to see that come to an end.
“The continued disappearance of well-known names from the High Street, not just in Crieff but across the country, is a real concern and evidence that the UK’s economic woes are far from over and that the economic approach emanating from Downing Street and the coalition Government is not working.”
