Lockdown and Brexit blamed as Peeks Party Store closes after 70 years' trading

THE family-run Peeks Party Store in Christchurch has gone into liquidation – ending 70 years of trading.

The coronavirus lockdown and Brexit were blamed for the company going out of business.

The shop in Reid Street closed at the end of March after the Prime Minister ordered all non-essential stores to shut.

Peeks was founded by Charles Peek in 1946 with the party store opening in the 1990s. Mr Peek died in 2012 and the company has been run by his grandson Nick.

It has instructed Dorset and Hampshire-based Portland Business Recovery to assist with winding up the company.

In a statement released by Portland it was revealed that Peeks had been “significantly affected by Brexit” but the directors had put in place strategies for its long-term survival including downsizing and cost cutting.

However, after the government ordered all non-essential stores to shut it said the company’s trade was cut “overnight”. The store had been offering a delivery service but it did not prove enough to keep it going.

Also catastrophic for Peeks were the cancellation of “large earners” such as VE Day events and the Olympics.

The statement said: “With the uncertainty of when pubs and hotels would reopen and with costs cut as far as they could be, it became clear to the directors that they were unable to continue as they simply did not have the funds to see the pandemic through.”

Nicola Layland, from Portland, said: “Covid-19 has had an unprecedented effect on companies, particularly those servicing the hospitality trade.

“Unfortunately, the government support was not sufficient to keep the company going during its closedown.

“As the company was not specifically in the hospitality trade it was unable to obtain some of the support available.

“The decision was a difficult one for the directors, particularly given this has been a family business for generations.

“The directors could see that they would not have sufficient funding to get through the issues caused by the pandemic and therefore wanted to make a decision at an early stage to close rather than increasing debts which could not be paid.”

Staff who lose their jobs are now able to claim for redundancy which Portland is assisting them with. Peeks’ stock will now be sold.