Adams Childrenswear

JS Childrenswear Ltd

Former type	Ltd
Industry	Retail clothing
Founded	1933 (Birmingham)
Founder(s)	Amy Adams
Defunct	2010 (High street stores, Adams are now online only)
Headquarters	Nuneaton, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Number of locations	260(during 2008) 160 (January 2009) 10 (April 2010) 9 Outlets (September 2010) Online only (As of 2011)
Area served	International
Key people	Vacant (Chief Executive) John Shannon (2007/8 owner)
Products	Clothing
Services	Clothing retail and manufacture
Employees	2000 (2007?)
Website	http://adams.co.uk/

JS Childrenswear Ltd (branded as Adams Kids) is a children's clothing retailer, based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire in the United Kingdom.

History

Amy Adams started a children's clothing business from her own home in Birmingham in 1933. She then opened another three stores in quick succession. Until 1973 Amy Adams and her son Michael ran the company independently, when they sold it to Foster Brothers. Ten years later Foster Brothers was itself acquired by Sears Holdings plc.

Adams had over 200 stores by the 1980s, and by the 1990s it had become a key player in the childrenswear market.

The company opened its first international franchise in Saudi Arabia in 1997. Further international stores were then opened in Cyprus, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Finland, India and Slovakia. In 1999 Sears was acquired by Sir Philip Green who then agreed to a management buy out of Adams Childrenswear.

Mini Mode brand

Mini Mode logo

Adams has been making clothing under the Mini Mode brand for Boots since 2002. Mini Mode has 327 concessions and its own online store. Mini Mode Childrenswear Limited also entered administration on 21 January 2009, with Rob Jonathan Hunt, Stuart David Maddison and Michael John Andrew Jervis being appointed as joint administrators.

2006 administration

In 2006 Adams went into administration, with PricewaterhouseCoopers handling the proceedings. Northern Irish businessman John Shannon bought Adams out of administration in February 2007. 42 of the stores were then closed. David Carter Johnson was appointed as Chief Executive. In January 2008 the "kids love fashion" branding was rolled out into all stores and store refits started in the UK and Ireland.

2008 administration

The previous Adams Kids logo.

During the weekend of 28 December 2008 Adams announced that were again preparing to enter administration.^[1] At the time of the 2008 administration there were 260 stores in the UK and 116 outlets overseas, employing around 2000 people.^[2] PricewaterhouseCoopers were approached on 24 December to act as administrators again.^[3] Adams is reported to owe around £20 million to Mr Shannon and £10 million to Burdale.^[4] The company entered administration on 31 December 2008. The Mini Mode brand was not affected by the administration at this time. 111 stores closed, shedding 850 jobs, but the administrators remained hopeful that Adams would still find a buyer.^[5] 160 of the stores then remained.^[6] On 26 January a further 36 stores were closed.^[7] 125 of the stores continued to trade, while the situation was assessed.

2009 and beyond

On 15 February 2009, it was announced that former owner John Shannon, who also bought the company in 2006, would be taking it out of administration. The Adams brand will be retained.

On 10 September 2009 it was announced that Adams was sold to a new a investment group under the name of Habib Alvi.^[8]

On 22 January 2010, it went in to administration for the third time.^[9]

On 8 February 2010. It has been announced that Mini mode will no longer exist. Mothercare is to buy out all of the branches which exist in Boots stores and they will design a completely new range which will only be sold in Boots stores.

Mothercare has exchanged contracts and all stores will become Mini Club from 1 September 2010 which will be Mothercare's new range for Boots. In early 2010 Adams closed their few remaining stores and orders from the website ceased

2010-Present

In August 2010 Adams relaunched their website including their online store. Adams opened nine new outlets and planned to open many more, however by March 2011 the outlet details had been removed from their website and the outlets are likely to have closed. They have also reduced their clothing range, this could be due to the lack of orders from their website. As of 2011 the previous Adams kids logo now appears on their website.

Website

Around Christmas in 2005 Adams launched an online gift store, and a schoolwear store was launched the following January. The website was overhauled in August 2006. In July 2009 Adams rolled out a new design of the website incorporating the latest branding and introducing new functionality. Mini Mode also has an online store independent of the Boots website. In August 2010 Adams relaunched their website including their online store.

References

1. ^ Tryhorn, Chris (2008-12-28). "Clothing retailer Adams calls in the administrators". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/28/adams-retailer-administration. Retrieved 2008-12-28. 
2. ^ "Adams 'poised for administration'". BBC News. 2008-12-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7801952.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-28. 
3. ^ "Adams confirms administration move". Press Association. 2008-12-29. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hi_-VJ9kM73GPRiKKIFP3MmCmK4g. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
4. ^ "Adams calls in administrators". Associated Press. 2008-12-28. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iUa3K6TRBAot9o9Hb6BV6_ochRHw. Retrieved 2008-12-28. 
5. ^ Kollewe, Julia (2009-01-05). "Adams sheds 850 jobs as administrators close 111 shops". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/05/adams-retail. Retrieved 2009-01-05. 
6. ^ Leroux, Marcus (2009-01-01). "Adams jobs at risk as administrator arrives". London: The Times. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5426125.ece. Retrieved 2009-01-04. 
7. ^ "Further 36 Adams stores to close". BBC News. 2009-01-26. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7851499.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-26. 
8. ^ Berwin, Lisa (10 September 2009). "John Shannon sells Adams". Retail Week. Emap Limited. http://www.retail-week.com/retail-sectors/fashion/john-shannon-sells-adams/5006149.article. Retrieved 2009-10-24. 
9. ^ Wood, Zoe (22 January 2010). "Childrenswear chain Adams falls back into administration". Guardian (London: Guardian). http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/22/adams-childrenswear-administration. Retrieved 2010-01-31. 

9. "About us". Adams Kids. http://adams.co.uk/shop/page-about_us. Retrieved 2008-12-28. 

External links

• Adams Kids
• Mini Mode