Quiz collapses into administration, over 100 jobs lost

British retail chain Quiz has officially entered administration. After a prolonged challenging period, and despite stronger than expected sales at times, the company has succumbed to several headwinds that made for testing trade conditions.

Interpath’s Alistair McAlinden and Geoff Jacobs have been appointed joint administrators to Orion Retail Limited, Tarak International Limited and Zandra Systems Limited, collectively trading as Quiz Clothing.

While the company’s 40 stores and seven concessions across the UK and Ireland will continue to trade amid a review of the business, its online store will close immediately. Quiz’s concessions in New Look and Matalan stores are not part of the administration process.

Administrators said the majority of employees will be retained to oversee continued trading, yet confirmed 109 redundancies among the company’s head office in Glasgow and its Lanarkshire distribution centre.

Interpath cited changing consumer habits, cost pressure from business rates and the increase to employment costs as being among the economic headwinds faced by Quiz.

Turnaround efforts unfruitful as insolvency proceedings commence

In a statement, McAlinden underlined the “tough start to 2026 for the UK high street” and reaffirmed an intention to continue physical operations “as long as we can while we assess options for the business”.

Jacobs added that any parties interested in acquiring stock, store operations or infrastructure should contact Interpath with urgency. “We are ensuring that those employees impacted by redundancy are provided with all available support at this difficult time,” he continued.

This is the second administration Quiz has faced in a year, having previously entered its retail subsidiary, Zandra Retail Limited, into similar proceedings in early 2025. Orion Retail Limited agreed to acquire certain assets of the business unit, preserving the majority of Quiz’s retail employees.

Since then, the business has continued to experience challenging trading conditions, Interpath said. Things appeared to be looking up in September, when Quiz reported stronger than anticipated sales, however, by the peak festive season, performance fell below expectations both online and in-store.

Despite efforts to avoid administration, including a search for new funding and a rejuvenation of Quiz’s store concept, Interpath “took the difficult decision to place these companies into insolvency”.