THE HARVEY NICHOLS luxury store in Dundrum Town Centre is bust and interim provisional joint liquidators were appointed by the High Court today.

Ms Justice Siobhan Stack was told the Dublin entity, part of the Harvey Nichols UK-wide group, was unable to pay its debts and was insolvent.

The Dundrum store employs 33 people and Judge Stack heard it had been unable to recover from poor trading since the Coronavirus pandemic and was no longer being financially supported by its UK mother group.

Barrister John Lavelle, who appeared with Arthur Cox Solicitors for the company, told the court that the group and the Dublin store had been loss making for a number of years.

He said five specific creditors and the Department of Social Protection would immediately be informed of the company’s collapse.

Mr Lavelle said the petition to wind up the company had been presented by its secretary and sole director, Julia Goddard, Cleveland Square, London. He said John Boland and Nicholas O’Dwyer of Grant Thornton had agreed to act as joint liquidators.

Ms Goddard stated in written evidence that the annual rent for the Harvey Nichols Dundrum store was €1,059,410 and since Covid the company had net liabilities of €19,382,000 in 2021 which had risen to €28.2 million by the end of the 2026 financial year.

She stated that no-one wanted to buy the company and the board had decided it was in its best interests to enter a winding up process. She said if no buyer could be found for the Dundrum company the joint liquidators would be best placed to implement an orderly cessation of trading and secure the assets of the company.

Judge Stack appointed Boland and O’Dwyer as joint liquidators and granted them necessary powers to conduct their task. The proceedings were returned until 7 September.