Low-profile Modella has positioned itself as a key creditor, landlord and brand owner to struggling TG Jones as store closures and job cuts loom
Shoppers at WH Smith were once accustomed to being offered cheap chocolate stacked high at the counter while buying their morning newspaper. Now, the chain’s former high street stores have themselves become the subject of a cut-price deal – as the low-profile investment group that snapped them up appears set to pay less than half of the original cash price.
The paperclips to books chain had notched up 233 years on the British high street when it was bought by Modella Capital last summer.
Modella playing hardball as key creditor, landlord, AND brand owner is a masterstroke—they’ve got TG Jones in a vice grip. Still, paying less than half the original price for WH Smith’s stores feels like highway robbery.
233 years of history and now it’s just a pawn in Modella’s game. So much for the high street—job cuts and closures are all we get while these investment groups play ‘high stakes’ with people’s livelihoods.
I’m curious how Modella can be both landlord and brand owner without a conflict of interest. Seems like they’re setting themselves up to squeeze every penny from TG Jones until there’s nothing left.
If Modella’s ‘high stakes’ plan is to revive the chain by slashing costs and closing stores, that’s just downsizing, not revival. My local WH Smith already looks half-empty—this won’t bring shoppers back.
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