Carpetright Competitor Tapi Buys Chain in Pre-Pack Deal

Carpetright competitor Tapi has agreed to a multi-million deal to buy the Carpetright brand, intellectual property, two warehouses and 54 of its stores in a pre-pack deal.

This means that around a quarter of the major floorcovering retailer’s stores have been rescued. However, the deal does not extend Carpetright’s head office in Purfleet, Essex, or approximately 200 other stores. Media report suggests that over 300 jobs have been saved with over a thousand jobs still at risk.

The announcement comes after PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was appointed by Carpetright to lead its sales process as it filed a notice of intention to go into administration at the High Court on Friday 12th July.

Tapi Carpets & Floor Limited, trading as Tapi Carpets or Tapi, was founded in 2014 by Martin Harris, Carpetright founder Lord Harris and his son Martin as a competitor to the chain. Since then, the company has rapidly expanded to over 150 locations. This new deal is the latest in Tapi’s 10-year story of successful growth.

Unusually for a pre-pack administration, Tapi has vowed to honour deposits for customers who paid for flooring via debit card or cash in the stores it acquired. The company has pledged to make Carpetright staff a priority for new roles that it intends to create in the coming year and has offered to pay for one-to-one services and workshops to provide support and guidance for those whose roles have been affected by the restructuring.