By Bruce Robbins

LONG-ESTABLISHED chain stores Klick Photopoint and William Munro Cleaners—which trade out of single shops in Reform Street, Dundee, and Brook Street, Broughty Ferry, and have branches throughout Tayside and Fife—have gone into administration with the loss of 817 jobs, it was revealed yesterday.

The nationwide business, owned by Glasgow’s Bowie Castlebank Group, employs 1664 people across its network of 314 shops.

There are also outlets in Cupar, St Andrews, Leven, Glenrothes, Cowdenbeath, Perth and Arbroath.

Blair Nimmo and Tony Friar of KPMG Restructuring have been appointed joint administrators of the group at the request of the company’s directors.

The group has 197 Klick branches across the UK and 117 Max Spielman outlets in England. About 60 Klick shops also provide space for Munro Cleaners, all of which are based in Scotland.

The administrators said the photo processing firm has suffered “significant losses” in recent years due to the advance of digital photography. Reduced levels of clothing which require dry cleaning have seen the cleaning business contract.

Mr Nimmo said, “It is with regret that we have had to make substantial redundancies across Bowie Castlebank’s operations and we are currently working with Government agencies to ensure the employees’ issues are dealt with as quickly as possible.

“At the same time, we are marketing the business in an attempt to secure a sale of some of the group’s stores or operations as a going concern. Any interested parties should contact the joint administrators as soon as possible.”

Customers who have photos with Klick for development or have garments with Munro for cleaning are advised to return to their local store as quickly as possible to retrieve the items. The administrators said all efforts would be made to return items to their owners where possible.