THE FUTURE of the Au Naturale store in Dundee was in doubt last night after it was announced that it was one of 13 outlets in the nationwide chain that has yet to find a buyer.

Parent company Au Nat Ltd was placed into administration last week and joint administrators Graham Martin, Ian Green and Jeremy Webb, of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, yesterday announced that 46 of the remaining Au Naturale stores have been sold to an undisclosed buyer.

The homeware chain attributed its downfall to the general retail downturn and major operational difficulties in the supply of stock from its warehouses to its shops.

All branches of the chain’s sister stores Internacionale were sold at the start of the month.

A spokeswoman for the administrators confirmed that Dundee’s flagship store in Kingsway West Retail Park is not part of the sale deal.

The 8500 square foot store opened last year with around 30 staff. However, the spokeswoman denied that the writing was necessarily on the wall for the shop.

She said the administrators are still working to find a buyer. If they felt they were facing a hopeless task, it was likely that they would have ordered the store to close, she pointed out.