TG Jones owner Modella puts jobs at risk in shoe retailer overhaul

Modella Capital is set to put hundreds of jobs on the line as it pursues its latest drastic restructuring, this time of northern shoe seller Wynsors World of Shoes.

The private equity firm which owns hundreds of former WH Smith stores has briefed staff on its plans for an overhaul at the shoe retailer it bought only months ago.

Modella has stamped its presence on the British high street in recent months, buying up a string of struggling retailers before offloading the firms or subjecting them to drastic cost-cutting regimes.

Staff at Wynsors were briefed on plans for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) on Tuesday afternoon, Sky News’ Mark Kleinman has reported.

A CVA is a compromise reached between a company and its creditors to agree to pay some or all of its debt back over time in a bid to dodge insolvency.

Over 100 jobs at risk

Wynsors’s restructuring could see its rent cut at 36 of its 47 stores, while a number of these shops are expected to close altogether. 

More than 100 jobs are on the chopping block, with a quarter of the firm’s about 400 employees reportedly at risk.

Wynsors was founded in Chesterfield in 1956 and now operates stores across the north of England, with its retail offering focusing on school shoes.

Modella has owned the retailer for only six months, and was reportedly weighing a sale of the chain in March.

The Mayfair-based private equity firm blamed weak consumer confidence and “adverse government fiscal policies” for its move to wind down Original Factory Shop and Claire’s Accessories soon after buying the firms.

Modella bought WH Smith’s 480 high street stores for £40m last year and renamed them under the TG Jones brand.

TG Jones stores struggling

But the private equity firm has conceded that these rebranded stores are trading worse than under their former moniker.

Modella is preparing to shut as many as a quarter of these sites in an aggressive overhaul of the business, which it claims is necessary to avoid insolvency.

The firm’s most recent acquisition is Flying Tiger Copenhagen, a stationery and accessories chain which operates around 1,000 stores globally including 80 in the UK.

Modella was formed as Tailer Debtco in 2022 before being renamed to Modella a year later, and is owned by Hay Wain Group, the family office founded by turnaround specialist Jamie Constable.

Modella’s chairman is Steve Curtis, a well-known investor in the retail sector, and its managing director is Joseph Price.