Covid hit businesses put items under the hammer

More than £100k-worth of goods and equipment are to go under the hammer in auctions after being sent for disposal from an extraordinary range of businesses trading in everything from Mayfair tailoring to children’s party products.

Auctioneer Paul Cooper said: “The pandemic has not only pushed many businesses over the edge into bankruptcy or liquidation, but it is also causing massive problems for countless others.”

As an example, the online Collective Auction that closes on Tuesday (December 8) includes many thousands of pounds worth of modern furniture and furnishings that have been sent to them by a Lincolnshire furniture retailer.

Paul continued: “The firm hasn’t gone under, but operating a showroom with the Covid situation has been difficult and they ended up with a place full of furniture at a time when the new season stock was arriving.

“They’ve had a sort out to create space and we’ve been sent a lot of brand new household furniture, plus rugs, bedding, curtaining and the like.

“They have also sent us a large quantity of weatherproof wicker outdoor chairs. They are a striking contemporary American design that sold for £500 a time on that side of the Atlantic. We’ve got 50 of them.”

Paul added: “Other entries in the auction highlight show just how far and how wide the damage has been.

“Liquidators have instructed us to sell off assets of Bold Display, a Widnes-based exhibition and trade fair supplies company. There haven’t been any exhibitions since the start of the pandemic. Their business disappeared overnight.

“Even an online sales operation doesn’t save you if nobody wants what you’re selling.

“The auction includes a massive amount of stock from a Lancashire company that specialised in children’s party supplies. There haven’t been any kid’s parties this year . . . the firm has closed down . . . and the administrators have sent us thousands of pounds worth of balloons, banners, cards, confetti cannons and all the rest of the stuff that’s necessary for an impressive party.

“We’ve also been instructed to sell off some interesting equipment from the party supplies company including a T-shirt printer and a piece of kit that enables a soft toy to be inserted into an inflated balloon. How does anyone get by without one of those?”

Paul continued: “And the effects of the pandemic are touching all sections of the market, right the way through to the top.

“The saleroom is currently graced with racks of clothing that we will be putting under the hammer on behalf of the administrator now handling the affairs of Wensum Tailoring of Mayfair and Norwich.

“The firm was a well-known manufacturer of luxury tailoring, supplying many leading British men’s clothing brands and a number of famous Savile Row houses.

“They called in the administrators in the summer and we will be putting some very expensive suits, coats, jackets including lots of dinner jackets, trousers and the rest under the hammer in an auction on December 17.”

Tuesday’s (December 8) Industrial Collective Auction extends to 521 lots.

Viewing on Monday December 7 (10am-4pm) is by advance appointment (01724-334411) with social distancing measures in force. The auction catalogue is available at www.eddisonscjm.com.

The online auction is scheduled to end at 10am on Tuesday morning (December 8).