The administrators of beleaguered entertainment retailer Zavvi have closed 22 stores.
The remaining 92 stores will stay open, according to administrator Ernst & Young, with a half-price sale beginning this week.
Putting the 22 stores into administration will mean 178 jobs are lost. Ernst & Young said it is still aiming to sell Zavvi as a going concern.
The troubled retailer was hit badly by the collapse of Woolworths, Zavvi’s main supplier.
“Despite record consumer demand since Christmas, it is no longer possible to support continued trading across all the Zavvi stores,” said Tom Jack of Ernst & Young. “Unfortunately, the current difficulties faced on the UK high street seem to be discouraging retailers from investing in a significant number of new stores.”
He added there had been 60 expressions of interest in all or part of the business.
Zavvi was formed after a management buy-out of the Virgin Megastore division of the Virgin Group in September 2007, and is the
