Republic’s flagship torpedoed by new owner

But barely a year after opening amid great fanfare, Republic’s flagship site in Leeds is hosting a closing down sale.

It is believed that the store has fallen victim to a consolidation programme by its new owner.

Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct agreed a deal with administrators to buy Republic’s 114 stores earlier this year. Britain’s biggest sporting goods retailer, which also owns USC, has since looked to reduce its estate to a smaller number of bigger and better stores.

A spokesman for the group declined to comment.

Republic was once regarded as recession proof, due to its youthful customer base supported by the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’.

The Briggate store, opposite Harvey Nichols, was created to be a music venue as well as a shop, showcasing artists and bands from around the Leeds area and all over the North in an attempt to draw in young shoppers.

Speaking at the launch last September, chief executive Paul Sweetenham said: “We’re very excited to have launched the new Republic in the heart of Leeds where the brand first began over 25 years ago.

“We have welcomed a number of new brands to the stable and have developed partnerships with music labels to create a genuine fashion and music offering like no other before. The Leeds store launch is just the beginning.”

Mr Sweetenham said Republic wanted its flagship store to be in an imposing building rather than a “vanilla” shopping centre like Trinity Leeds.

Republic was once one of the darlings of the UK retail industry and went through a number of multi-million pound management buyouts, earning massive windfalls for its directors and generating big fees for company advisers.

But the business was hit by poor trading last autumn and a rapid decline in sales in January, which led to its collapse.

Its new owner Sports Direct International posted an underlying pre-tax profit of £208.1m in the year ending April 2013, up 40 per cent.