Fashion retailer Republic is to axe almost 100 Scottish jobs, with over 20% of the redundancies affecting Courier Country.
Joint administrators for the troubled chain yesterday announced the closure of five stores, including Dundee and Stirling, with the loss of a total of 97 posts.
Ten people will lose their jobs at the Dundee city centre store, with 11 workers being made redundant in Stirling’s Thistles Shopping Centre outlet.
Republic units in Glasgow and Edinburgh will also close.
The grim news came as a leading industry figure warned the road to UK recovery “remains fragile” despite British retailers seeing sales volumes continue to lift in the first half of February.
The CBI’s latest quarterly Distributive Trades Survey, which covers the first two weeks of February, revealed that 37% of retailers saw an increase in their volume of sales in the year to February, with 29% reporting a reduction.
The resulting balance of +8% was the lowest figure since September 2012 (+6%) and was the third consecutive month in which the pace of growth had slowed.
Fortunes were broadly positive among retail sub-sectors, with grocers being one of the few fallers, with their first decrease in volumes of sales, down 26%, since April last year and the lowest figure since November 2008 (-46%).
Many other sub-sectors enjoyed a more positive return, with clothing reporting a 91% rise, its highest figure since October 2010.
Other strong sectors included furniture and carpets, up 61%, and non-store goods, a rise of 70%, which includes online and mail order.
Barry Williams, Asda chief merchandising officer for food and chairman of the CBI Distributive Trades Survey Panel, said: “We all know trading is tough, and the bad weather hasn’t exactly been encouraging shoppers to hit the high street lately.
“But there is a glimmer of hope for retailers with the news that sales are growing, even if at a slower pace than in recent months.
“Clearly, the road to recovery remains fragile. Worries about the economy, pay freezes and the rising cost of living will mean shoppers remain cautious for the foreseeable future.”
Price inflation in shops rose by 40%, more sharply than expected, but was in line with its long-run average of 40%.
The volume of orders fell sharply by 19% against expectations they would remain flat, perhaps in part reflecting the loss of momentum in volumes of sales.
Sentiment about the general business situation over the next three months remains positive and, at 12%, even saw a modest 5% improvement on the previous quarter.
Investment intentions for the year ahead remain relatively unchanged, while employment dropped, down 7%, against more positive expectations.
The outlook for the business situation for wholesalers improved for the second consecutive quarter, rising by 25%, while investment intentions dropped 3%.
Motor trades sales rose by 10%, with the expectation of an even greater acceleration in the volume of sales next month of 50%.
If realised, this would be the strongest growth since November last year.
The report said motor traders are feeling more optimistic about the business situation compared with the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, the CBI has announced the appointment of Stephen Gifford as director of economics.
Mr Gifford was previously chief economist at the accountancy firm Grant Thornton and was responsible for providing economic advice to public and private sector clients.
Most recently, he led a programme of research into high-growth firms as part of the Growth Accelerator service funded by the Department for Business and managed a team evaluating the impacts and legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.