Business leaders have called for greater support for Scotland’s stricken high streets as a famous clothing retail brand trading for 189 years is to close.

Brexit, Covid, and high street malaise have been cited as factors faced by M&Co, founded in Paisley, Renfrewshire, which is now to close all 170 outlets, including around 50 in Scotland, within months, with the expected loss of around 2,000 jobs.

The move comes after the company previously fell into administration in 2020 when the majority of the estate was saved, with 47 stores and 380 jobs lost at the time, before administrators again took control towards the end of last year.

The brand, which started as a pawnbroker, has been acquired by Peterborough-based AK Retail Holdings, which owns Yours Clothing, for an undisclosed sum in a deal that did not include the physical stores.

As well as a high street staple, M&Co, which had been owned by the McGeoch family, was also an important retailer in rural and island towns from Ayr to Stornoway.

The loss of the M&Co stores may impact older people who might be less likely to buy online and as one of the larger clothing stores in many towns may leave a market gap.

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Business leaders in Argyll bemoaned the loss of stores in Oban and Helensburgh.

“Members of the Mid Argyll Chamber of Commerce who are, in the main, tourist and retail operators are disappointed that M&Co will disappear from high streets,” a spokesperson for the chamber said. “Stores in Oban and Helensburgh will be missed by locals and tourists alike.

“High streets have been severely hit by the combination of Covid, Brexit and energy costs and have found it difficult to compete with online retailers. High street footfall is dropping.

“Retailers need the Scottish Government to rationalise business rates and tourism requires central government to reduce VAT rates.”

Elsewhere, Frances Murray, Western Isles councillor, said: “I was very disappointed to hear today that the store on Cromwell Street will close, primarily for the employees who have served the community so well.

"M&Co will leave a big gap in Stornoway and the wider island community, offering as it did an alternative to online purchasing."

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She added: “This was certainly needed for those who are digitally excluded, or who struggle with online shopping. The shop was an important and successful part of our town centre, having actually expanded from its original premises into the larger, current shop, vacated, ironically, by Woolworths.

“The decline of the high street is a nationwide issue, but is particularly noticeable in island towns, where there is no close-by alternative for customers.

”There are examples throughout the country, and in Europe, of vibrant town centres, and we need to work collaboratively to find imaginative ways to ensure footfall, whether that be looking beyond shops to social purposes, or to community-owned enterprises."

Rae MacKenzie, also a Western Isles councillor, said: "It is a very sad day for the high street(s) in general but particularly, as far as I am concerned, for the town of Stornoway.

"M&Co provided a range of goods that are not available elsewhere here. This follows on from a number of closures over recent years of a variety of different shops and businesses."

Leigh Sparks, professor of retail studies and deputy principal at the University of Stirling, pointed to wider issues.

“M&Co as an established Scottish retailer has locations in many towns and high streets and had become a staple presence especially in many smaller places, where it was a significant business,” the professor said.

READ MORE: Scottish retailer M&Co falls into administration

“Its closure is clearly a blow for these locations and for the c2000 people employed in these stores. M&Co attracted an older, female and budget clientele and this group will be relatively underserved in the market, whether in physical shops or online.

“The business had been struggling for some time and the pressures from Brexit and then from Covid and lockdown restrictions had hit the business hard, leading to an earlier administration and now this purchase of the brand name and intellectual property rights but not the stores.

“This is reflection of the difficulties of trading through stores for many retailers, the cost pressures many businesses are currently facing and imbalance in the fiscal regimes for town centre retailing overall.”

The company posted on Facebook: “As we haven’t received any funded, deliverable offers that would result in the transfer of the company’s stores or staff to a potential buyer, this means that all of our stores will close. The M&Co ‘brand’ has been purchased, but unfortunately this does not include a future for our stores, website or staff.

"We will trade all of our stores until Easter, and then begin the close-down process.”