The Tile Market brand looks set to disappear from the north’s retail scene following the latest collapse of the business.
Liquidators from BDO NI were appointed to Tile Market’s trading entity J&G Agencies Ltd just before Christmas.
Most of the company’s assets were sold off last month in a series of auctions, with its Boucher Road base now on the market for £1.2 million.
It represents the latest collapse of the home-grown tile retailer, which fell into liquidation under its previous ownership in 2011.
Originally founded by Jim and Dolores McMullan in the mid-1970s, Tile Market operated at least one dozen stores across the north during its peak.
The McMullan’s Lurgan-based Lomac Group expanded the Tile Market brand into the Republic during the mid-1980s, eventually opening 14 sites.
But the operation experienced difficulties in the years following the 2007 financial crisis, with its southern business collapsing in 2008, with its northern entity eventually going the same way in July 2011.
It’s understood Giuseppe Gaudiano acquired part of the business at that stage, including the retailer’s intellectual rights.
Mr Gaudiano also established the Carlanto luxury tile and bathroom studio in 2013.
Tile Market had continued to trade from four sites in recent years in south Belfast, Lurgan, Newry and Dublin.
But history repeated itself on December 11, when Mr Gaudiano agreed a special resolution to wind up the business at BDO, with liquidators appointed on the same date.
Bangor-based auction house James Armstrong took control of the Tile Market social media accounts last month to promote a series of ‘fire sales’ of Tile Market’s assets from its Lurgan and Boucher Road sites, with the final lot auctioned off on January 31.
Tile Market’s 24,000 sq ft headquarters on Glenmachan Place, just off the Boucher Road, is now being marketed, with offers sought in excess of £1.2m.
