Retail giant Debenhams has fallen into administration after a last-ditch offer to save it was rejected.
Bosses at the department store said no to a £200m offer from Sport Direct boss Mike Ashley.
But the stores are continuing to trade after shares for the company were suspended before today's trading - at its own request - just hours after Mr Ashley's offer was rejected.
It is understood he was snubbed because he insisted on becoming chief executive of the struggling chain.
Debenhams has 166 stores in the UK and employs 25,000 people.
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It has a major flagship store in Lord Street in Liverpool City Centre and also has stores in Chester, Southport, and at the Coliseum Shopping Park in Ellesmere Port, near to Cheshire Oaks.
The company's lenders, which are made up of High Street banks and US hedge funds, have now seized control of the company.
Debenhams has already announced plans for around 50 stores to close in the next couple of years, with the outcome of this to be decided by rent costs and negotiations with landlords in respective areas of the country.
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The last-minute rescue package from Sports Direct promised to underwrite a £200m rights issue, on the condition that Mike Ashley be made chief executive of Debenhams.
Sports Direct had previously said its proposal had been rebuffed and called for the Debenhams board and its lenders to actively engage in negotiations to save the chain.
