NINETEEN jobs will be lost when North Albury retailer Sam’s Warehouse shuts for the last time on Sunday.
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It was third time unlucky for the store, which survived two previous rounds of closures.
The store has been carrying a sign for several days saying it will be no more from August 10, but this was not confirmed until the weekend.
The jobs comprise one full-time, three part-time and 15 casual positions.
Twenty-two stores branded Sam’s Warehouse and Crazy Clark’s in NSW, Queensland and Victoria will now shut before next week.
This takes the total numbers of stores in DSG Holdings’ two retail chains to have been closed to 109 across Australia.
Initially the receivers KordaMentha Restructuring had been hoping to find a buyer for the most profitable stores.
But in announcing the latest closures, the receivers appear to have given up on that.
“It is extremely unlikely there will be a buyer for a large part of the group,” spokesman Michael Smith said.
That is despite more than 55 expressions of interest.
The latest closures include stores at Warrnambool, Orange and Dubbo.
The North Albury Sam’s Warehouse has been plastered with closing down signs for several weeks as part of a group-wide sales pitch to earn several millions of dollars to cover employee entitlements.
Twenty-six stores were closed on July 27.
More than 1400 employees have been affected by the store closures since receivers were appointed on July 1.
Mr Smith said some stores named in the latest round had already shut.
“Once again, we are appealing to local communities to grab a bargain during the receiver’s sales in the days before the stores close,” he said.
Mr Smith said discounts of up to 50 per cent would apply to stock.
“The receivers need to sell as much stock as possible to raise cash to pay the entitlements of all employees,” he said.
“The receivers hope to be in a position to pay those entitlements by the end of September.”
The receivers also hope to continue raising money to meet debts through selling its various shops, stock and fittings to interested buyers.