A LUXURY clothing retail company has shut up shop in Alresford after the firm went into administration.

More than a dozen jobs have been lost after owners of Spirit of the Andes announced they had appointed administrators on July 20.

It is believed that the Broad Street shop is now closed, along with stores in Lavenham in Suffolk, Oakham in Rutland, and Ludlow in Shropshire.

The company was founded in 1993 selling artisan knitwear from Peru and Bolivia to shops across the UK, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Japan.

One of the administrators, Mark Ranson, of Armstrong Watson, said: “The business failed following a numbers of years of loss-making trading, partially brought about by being committed to property leases on loss-making shops.

“The administrators are continuing to trade the business. The retail estate is currently being rationalised to create a business which will be attractive to potential purchasers. Interested parties should contact the administrators at their office.”

Seven redundancies have also been made at the head office.

At the date of the administrators’ appointment, the business had 12 shops in the UK: Hornby in Lancashire; Prestbury in Cheshire; Bakewell in Derbyshire; Ludlow; Hay-on-Wye in Herefordshire; Oakham; Holt in Norfolk; Lavenham; Bath in Somerset; Sherborne in Dorset; Alresford; and Amersham in Buckinghamshire. A 13th store Farnham shut when its lease expired in June.

News of the administration was confirmed to customers in a statement on the company’s website.

It said: “The affairs, business and property of the company are being managed by the joint administrators as agents of the company and without personal liability. As a result of the administration, goods are sold as seen and the company is not able to offer a refund for any unwanted items.”

No one from the Alresford store was available for comment when contacted by the Chronicle.