Retailers DW Sports and M&Co are to enter administration putting thousands of jobs at risk as the pandemic bites the sector.
DW Sports, which operates 73 gyms and 75 shops across the UK, is to close all stores causing a potential 1,700 redundancies, but it will try to save as many gyms as possible.
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The retailer has already closed 25 stores and has implemented closing down sales in the remaining 50, the BBC reported.
The 43 gyms under the Fitness First brand, part of the same group, will not be affected.
Meanwhile fashion retailer M&Co is negotiating a pre-pack insolvency deal with the McGeoch family, descendants of its founder, to reacquire the assets.
According to Sky News, 50 of the 260 stores are planned to close with hundreds of jobs gone.
The pandemic is estimated to have caused an estimated 150,000 job cuts in the UK.