The company’s proposing to close its Northlands Mall store, High Street, Hornby, and the Palms.

17 stores, in total, across New Zealand are expected to close after having “virtually no revenue during the Covid-19 lockdown.”

Company Managing Director Jamie Whiting says the Max Fashions team has worked incredibly hard over the past two years to rebuild an iconic New Zealand brand.

“Due to COVID-19 we have been unable to trade our stores for seven weeks during the lockdown period and it has taken a considerable toll on the business.”

“We forecast trading to be impacted for some time to come, as a result of the wider economic crisis, reduced consumer confidence and spending, lower foot traffic and disruption of supply chains.”

Jamie Whiting says the company had no other choice than to reshape the business to be able to operate in the new environment.

Mr Whiting says the company has taken significant measures to reduce costs in order to survive this crisis, including the senior management taking a permanent 30% pay cut. Unfortunately, this alone is not enough.

“After much deliberation and investigating all our options, the directors and shareholders of Max Fashions Limited, along with external advisors have concluded that 25 stores will continue to operate, and 17 stores are to close. “

“Thus we have had to make the immensely difficult decision to potentially make significant redundancies of a number of our dedicated staff. We are absolutely devastated – but this decision had to be made to ensure the survival of our business.”

Jamie Whiting says “we are a very close-knit team and to say we are proud of how our people have conducted themselves through these challenging times would be an understatement. “

“To implement the changes above, we are proposing a formal creditor’s compromise with our landlords. We appreciate this is a difficult situation for all parties involved and one which we have never encountered before – however with the support of the landlords we can get through this together and rebuild our businesses.”

Jamie Whiting says this is an incredibly difficult but necessary process to ensure the future survival of this iconic New Zealand business.

“If the landlords approve the proposed formal creditor’s compromise, we are confident that we can continue on the exciting journey of rebuilding this iconic brand on the other side of this very difficult but necessary restructure.”

Max locations to close if proposal goes through:

• Broadway Newmarket, Auckland
• Manukau, Auckland
• ShoreCity Takapuna, Auckland
• Queen Street, Auckland
• Northwest Shopping Centre Westgate, Auckland
• Chartwell, Hamilton
• Centreplace, Hamilton
• Papamoa
• North City, Porirua
• Outlet City Tawa, Wellington
• Northlands Mall, Christchurch
• High Street, Christchurch
• Hornby, Christchurch
• The Palms, Christchurch
• Timaru
• Queenstown