Jessops Brand Will Live on Online Thanks to UK Reality TV Star Peter Jones
It looks like the Jessops name will be sticking around, even if the company's 187 physical locations won't. After going into administration (read: bankruptcy) a few weeks ago, and announcing that all stores would be closing, we thought that was it for the once-great UK photography chain.
But, as it turns out, the Jessops brand has found a savior by the name of Peter Jones, a UK entrepreneur made famous by the reality television show Dragons' Den. The only catch is that Jones won't be saving the physical stores (or the 1,300+ jobs that depend on them), he only wants the Jessops brand.
Jessops to Close All Stores, Putting 1,370 People Out of a Job
A couple of days ago, UK camera retailer Jessops entered administration (essentially bankruptcy), appointing PricewaterhouseCoopers as their administrator and putting them in charge of the store's fate.
UK Camera Retailer Jessops May Enter Administration by the End of the Day
Jessosps, one of the last of the UK's national photography retailers, may be entering into administration by the end of the day, according to recent reports. The major retailer managed to narrowly avoid administration in 2009 after an unpopular deal with HSBC, in which the bank "forgave" some 34M pounds of debt in exchange for a near %50 stake in the company.
In May of last year another ray of hope appeared in the form of a potential $16M investment by Canon, but no such deal ever came to official fruition, although some sources report that an investment was made. Now, Jessops seems to be out of options, and administration may be just around the corner, with rumors pointing towards PricewaterhouseCoopers as the potential administrator.
Canon May Inject $16M Into Struggling UK Camera Retailer Jessops
The fact that UK camera retailer Jessops has been struggling financially is pretty well established; what's now under debate is whether or not Canon is going to make a sizable invest to bail them out. Just how sizable are we talking? Ten million pounds, or roughly 16 million dollars. According to an article in The Sunday Times ( in which no source was named) Canon is set to pull the trigger on the hefty investment in order to keep Jessops, the only specialized camera retailer in the UK, in business. But when asked to comment, both Jessops and Canon maintained that they will not comment on "rumor and speculation."