Sports Direct (Shirebrook, U.K.), Great Britain's largest sporting goods retailer, has purchased 114 Republic stores from the bankruptcy administrator of the failed fashion retailer.
Republic, which had been owned by the private equity firm TPG, went into “administration” – the British term for bankruptcy – earlier this month.
The failed retailer had been founded in 1986 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, as Best Company, a store specializing in denim and men's jeans. Its owners gradually transformed it into a staple of trendy fashion for teenagers and early 20-somethings.
The Republic brand was launched in 1998 and by 2005 was said to be opening between five and ten stores a year throughout England.
Sports Direct has over 470 stores under the SportsDirect.com, Field and Trek, Hargreaves Sports, Gilesports and Donnay International banners, in the U.K., Belgium, France, Portugal, Holland and Slovenia.