MaxiDeals, a variety discounter that launched during the pandemic in 2020, has ceased trading suddenly and entered liquidation.
MaxiDeals sold fmcg from well-known brands spanning food and drink, household, cleaning and health & beauty, along with general merchandise.
It opened its first shop in Hinckley, Leicestershire, in August 2020, and grew to 24 stores spread widely across the UK.
MaxiDeals entered voluntary liquidation on 18 February after agreeing at a general meeting it could not continue trading due to liabilities, records at Companies House show.
MaxiDeals had ceased trading “very suddenly” in a “really tough trading environment on the high street, accompanied with rising costs”, Paul Mathers, the chain’s MD from launch and former director of operations at Poundstretcher, told The Grocer.
Mathers also posted an update on LinkedIn saying: “MaxiDeals was a new startup discount retail business backed by investors, where I was given the responsibility of opening its retail locations across various parts of the UK.
“We opened these stores during very challenging times with the Covid outbreak just starting, however we did get to 24 stores.”
Owned by importer and wholesaler J&E Group, MaxiDeals originally launched as MaxiSaver. With offices in London, the chain opened eight stores in its first year of trading.
It set ambitious plans to grow its estate to 20 stores by the end of 2021, as the format had proven an “immediate hit” with customers in the pandemic, Mathers told The Grocer at the time.
The company was looking for units of between 2,500 sq ft and 15,000 sq ft and wanted to open in “most major towns in the country” within two years.
It rebranded as MaxiDeals in 2022, and was still opening stores as recently as September last year, with a local food bank allowed a one-minute trolley dash at a new branch in Merry Hill shopping centre near Dudley.
However, stores have been shutting rapidly since January, after holding 20% off closing down sales.
The appointed liquidator, Eric Walls at KSA Group, was not available for comment.
The Grocer has approached J&E Group for comment.
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