All 56 Riot! Art & Craft stores have shut their doors after the company went into liquidation last week.
Staff members were not given notice before the stores closed – and were reportedly informed via a text message last Monday which told them not to come back to work.
“All stores are closed as of today,” the message from Riot! Art & Craft director Michael Kurc said. “You are not required to be at work tomorrow.
“A massive thank you to everyone for all your years of service. All the best for the future.”
The closures came after staff said the shelves were left almost empty for weeks while former employees were led to believe stock would be replenished.
A former employee in the Whitfords store in Western Australia, who had worked with the business for more than two years, said she was “angry” and said it came as a shock after managers reassured staff.
“They kept reassuring us, even the week before the director actually sent us an email, saying stock was on its way,” she told Nine News.
“The thing that makes me most angry is that for the past few weeks we have been going in to work like normal, expecting to get paid, but we weren’t.
“That’s after the last fortnight of standing in what was almost an empty store telling customers that stock was coming in this week.”
SLKALT Pty Ltd – the company behind Riot! Art & Craft – had been running for 46 years before its liquidation last Monday.
SLKALT Pty Ltd Director Michael Kurc told Nine News that it’s now in the hands of the liquidator.
“Honestly, after 46 years in business it’s been very traumatic closing doors and beyond that it’s out of my hands,” he told Nine News.
Melbourne Insolvency firm Dye & Co has been appointed liquidators and director Nicholas Giasoumi confirmed with news.com.au that around 137 employees have been affected with around $3.5 million in entitlements collectively owed to them.
Former staff would be eligible for financial assistance under the government’s Fair Entitlement Guarantee Act.
“We’ve notified employees of their entitlements and explained how to access the cover through the government,” he said.
There is, in addition, about $8.5 million owed to about 100 other unsecured creditors, mainly landlords.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrGWcp51jrrZ7xaKlmqaTmnyjwdKipZ6ro2S%2FpsDAoqNoqpmkwW6t0a1knKqRm8Fuv9OanZ9lo5awrLHDZqavnaJiwabE02aknqujlrSmecCfq56qXZy8qrrGZqCnrJ9iuaq91KKbmqyZpLtwusSwqmarpKS%2FunvAn52cbGibfnStj51ummlimLGlrpGdbGtrZWV%2BpHyWbA%3D%3D