Twenty-six members of the REDgroup Retail’s Melbourne head office have been made redundant.
The administrators, Ferrier Hodgson, said the redundancies were effective immediately.
Administrator, Ferrier Hodgson partner Steve Sherman, said the redundancies were a difficult but necessary step in the administration process.
“As part of our restructure, we have had to make some cuts to the number of stores and the number of people working in head office,” he said.
“This is never an easy step, however, with the business continuing to lose money, it is a step that needed to be taken.”
Sherman said he could not rule out further store closures and redundancies in coming weeks.
REDgroup, owner of Australia and New Zealand’s biggest book retailing chains, Angus & Robertson, Borders and Whitcoulls, has been in voluntary administration since February 17. This follows the announcement on March 3 of 321 redundancies linked to the closure of 38 stores and brings the total number of REDgroup staff to 1,991.