7 – 11 Bond Street, Blackpool, Lancs FY4 1BH
“Hartes” opened in after Woolworths closed in 1994.
It traded in homewares and all round Christmas decorations.
Linda Jones (inset) has run the shop since 1994 with her husband Leo Jones. The business was originally started by Leo’s family in Cheshire nearly 50 years ago before moving to the resort.
Linda, 57, said: “It’s sad that the shop will close but it’s not a sob story. It’s just the online business is getting too big to continue trading as a shop.
The store is well known for its Christmas displays and this year was no different. The store has had a sale on since Boxing day and is selling most of its stock at half price as a thank you to their customers over the years.
We are not going out of business but looking to expand. We are getting piles of orders and we only have four staff so we needed to decide our options.”
Hartes Homestore starting trading online four years ago and have a shop on Amazon Marketplace. Linda says the business now has worldwide customers.
https://www.tremark.co.uk/437-director-banned-after-blackpool-shop-hits-the-rocks/
Leo Jones, the director of an all year round Christmas shop which went into administration owing £287,761 to creditors was disqualified by Blackpool County Court on 19 March 2014 for seven years, for delivering inadequate company records to the administrator.
Leo Jones, 62, of Kirkham, Preston, was the director of Hartes Christmas Shop Ltd (“Hartes”) which traded from Bond Street, Blackpool and went into administration in February 2010.
Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills brought disqualification proceedings against Mr Jones.Commenting on Mr Jones’ disqualification, Robert Clarke, head of Insolvent Investigations North at the Insolvency Service, said:“The law is very clear that companies must maintain proper accounting records and that, following insolvency, directors deliver those records to the office-holder.“However, Mr Jones failed to deliver adequate records to the Administrator.“Furthermore, Mr Jones paid substantial amounts to another of his companies when Hartes was insolvent, to the detriment of legitimate creditors. The consequence of his actions is that he has now been disqualified for a considerable period of time.”District Judge Law found that Mr Jones was unfit to be a company director, and disqualified him until 2021. The ban, from 9 April 2014, prevents Mr Jones from being involved in the control or management of a company without permission of the court.The court heard that as a consequence of the inadequate records delivered up to the Administrator by Mr Jones, it was not possible to reconcile banked receipts with the value of stock disposed of, or verify the extent of cash sales.The court also heard that between December 2009 and February 2010, when Hartes was in arrears with payments to suppliers, Hartes paid £52,000 to another of Mr Jones’ companies and £22,613 against credit card accounts not relating to the company.
Hartes building is now derelict and possibly facing demolition to make 43 space carpark.
