High street retailer Ethel Austin is on the brink of collapse for the second time in less than two years.
Poor Christmas trading followed by a slump in sales during January's Big Freeze is said to have brought the company down since it had failed to find backers for a bail-out.
The Merseyside-based firm, which was rescued from going under in 2008, again called-in administrators today (MON) and the future looks bleak for its 300 stores and 2,500 staff.
Stores were advertising an "Everything Must Go" clear-out sale after insolvency experts Menzies Corporate Restructuring (MCR) were appointed to stave-off creditors.
Ethel Austin was bought out of administration in May 2008 by former MK One stores boss Elaine McPherson, in a deal with insolvency firm Menzies Corporate Restructuring (MCR).
But the company has been struggling to pay suppliers since before Christmas and a winding-up order was issued against it last week.
MCR said they would try to sell the firm - known affectionately as "Ethel's" - as a going concern but warned there were no guarantees that it could be salvaged.
The situation was brought to a head after construction company, Aurelia Properties, filed a winding-up notices against Ethels and sister homeware firm Au Naturale last week.
The chain has its headquarters and distribution hub in Knowsley, Merseyside, where around warehouse 300 are employed.
They were told last week to take holidays or unpaid leave for a month because no store deliveries of stock were planned for four weeks.
One worker at Knowsley said: "We have just going through the motions of turning-up for work for the past couple of weeks.
"No-one knows exactly what will happen and the rumour-mill is in top gear but it looks bad.
"The fear is that with firms like Woolworths going bankrupt last year we are going to be the next and there will be no rescue this time."
MCR's Geoff Bouchier said: "The Joint Administrators are trading the Companies in Administration in the short term with a view to finding a purchaser for the businesses as a going concern.
"In the current economic climate there are no guarantees that purchasers will be found. We are reviewing the financial position of the Companies and are at this stage, unable to rule out store closures and redundancies.
"There is no doubt in our mind that the onset of the global economic crisis has hit the retail sector particularly hard. As a consequence of this the Companies have struggled to secure funders, which in turn has impacted their ability to generate sales revenue.
"This has been compounded by poor trading conditions in January attributed to the adverse weather conditions, which severely restricted the Companies' cash-flow.
"The Companies have continued to seek additional finance up until very recently but without success."
Retail analysts say Ethel's failed to match competitors like Primark on range and price.
It also failed to enter the internet market and had no facilities to sell online.
Ethel Austin was founded by housewife Ethel Austin and her husband in the living room of their Liverpool home in 1934.
Members of Ethel Austin's family ran company until 2002 when they sold their interest.
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