The £11m-turnover company, based in Warrington, has been bought back by a management team led by Mr Dawes but its nine shops - including those in Manchester, Bury, Stockport and Wigan - have closed, with 89 redundancies.
A further 99 jobs have been saved. The TV rental operation continues to trade from the firm's headquarters and online.
Other businesses in the Martin Dawes group are unaffected.
Joint administrator David Riley, of Grant Thornton, said: "The business recently branched out into the TV sales market and has struggled significantly in that area.
"Historically, Martin Dawes has always been associated with TV rental and this side of the business has remained buoyant. The pre-pack disposal was the best option in these circumstances in terms of saving as many jobs as possible and also maintaining services to the 50,000 rental customers who are completely unaffected by this announcement."
COFFEE and deli chain Coffee Republic succumbed to the high street squeeze as the group called in administrators.
The group has 153 directly-employed staff, of whom 26 are based at its head office and 127 at 20 group-operated outlets, including one in Manchester.
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Graham Westerman (09/07/2009 at 09:38)
vicki byrne (06/08/2009 at 21:13)
I was also told that unfortunatly this multi million pound man "Martin Dawes" couldnt afford to pay us anything and I would have to apply for my redundancy money myself off the government through the administrators. I was also told that unfortunatly after 12yrs of service I wasnt entitled to any notice payment either which would of been 12 weeks wage ( to me, a mother of 2, a lot of money, to Martin Dawes, mear pennies)
And, to add another insult, I had it confirmed before I left that I wouldnt loose my holiday entitlement and the 21days I had banked from previous years plus the 7 I had occured from this year would also be paid through the administraters claim off the government. Today I recieved a letter from the government saying I was only entittled to the 7 days I had occured this year.
Me and many of the 89 of us that lost our jobs that week, many of us including Graham (above) with years of service under our belt, have been mislead, lied too, whatever you want to call it...
To then find out that "MARTIN DAWES" has bought the company back in a "PRE PACKED ADMINISTRATION DEAL" has just added insult to injury for many of us.
This "MULTI MILLION" pound business man would not of built upon his bank balance without the likes of us doing all the hard grafting work for him, and this is the thanks we get.
As for your article which, if you read between the lines makes it out to be, Wonderful how this great man/company has managed to save 99 jobs in this fantastic, money making, sorry, "buy back" scheme, just have a second thought for those 89 of us, who after years of service have been dumped in the job center que with 3 days notice, not a thankyou for your service or penny to rub between us.
mark bennett (07/08/2009 at 18:47)
mark bennett (10/08/2009 at 14:46)
Billy the Fish! (10/08/2009 at 17:00)
That's disgusting! How can people be treated like that......................