Ethel Austin first went into administration in 2008 Clothing retailer Ethel Austin has gone into administration for the second time in two years.The group's 276 stores will continue trading as normal while a new buyer is sought, administrators MCR said. But MCR said it could not rule out closures or redundancies as there were "no guarantees" that a buyer could be found in the current economic climate. Administrators blamed the move on failure to secure funding, compounded by poor trading in January. Ethel Austin's sister company, homeware retailer Au Naturale, has also gone into administration. ADMINISTRATION TALES Nov 2008: Woolworths (all 815 branches closed and 30,000 jobs lost) Nov 2008: MFI (110 stores closed and 1,000 jobs lost) Dec 2008: Zavvi (ceased trading - 446 jobs lost but 637 saved after some stores sold to HMV and Head Entertainment) Dec 2008: USC (43 out of 58 stores and 1,100 jobs saved. 300 jobs lost) Dec 2008: Whittards of Chelsea (Still trading after sold to private equity firm) Together, the two companies have 276 stores and employ more than 3,700 people.[Read more...]