Retailers Collapse as Expenses Rise, Sales Weaken: Credit Weekly

On many weekends, dozens of people line up in a nondescript alleyway in east London to shop at sample sales: designer clothing offered at discounts that typically stretch to 70% or more.

A few weeks back, while consumers were seeking bargains at a sale by luxury retailer Matches, solicitors were starting a form of insolvency proceedings for the brand. It came just months after the business had been acquired by Mike Ashley’s retail empire.

Matches’ woes are the latest sign that retailers’ trouble is spreading across the Atlantic amid weaker consumer spending. Shops have been pushed to the breaking ...