Brazin orginally purchased 77 Our Price stores from the Virgin Group in 2001 for a nominal ?2 and purchased a further 41 stores last year for £1. Brazin also received £7.7m from Virgin towards restructuring the business.

Although Brazin had increased profitability across the stores and implemented a successful branding campaign, the company's low market share has forced the management team to re-evaluate its focus. Whether this means the opening of footwear stores, as has been suggested, remains to be seen.

Brazin CEO, Brett ...