jessopsadministration

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.

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.

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.