Administrators for collapsed fashion retail group Mosaic Brands (ASX: MOZ) have been unable to sell any of the portfolio's well-known brands, prompting the closure of its Millers and Noni B businesses with 252 stores set to shut down.

The decision will directly impact 933 employees across the two brands, including employees of 11 stores in New Zealand.

Today's announcement comes within a week of Mosaic Brands announcing all 136 Rivers fashion and footwear outlets would be shut down across Australia and New Zealand, leading to the loss of around 650 jobs.

Last month administrators announced the planned closure of all 80 remaining Katies stores, and flagged the Millers, Rivers and Noni B brands would be pared back by 80 outlets by mid-January.

Had the cull been limited to that number, implying 480 job losses across 160 stores, administrators would still have had more than 300 locations in the operations it was attempting to sell.

"Despite the best efforts of all parties, we have been unable to achieve a sale of any of the brands within the Mosaic portfolio," says KPMG partner David Hardy, who was appointed as a receiver to Mosaic on 28 October alongside Gayle Dickerson, Ryan Eagle and Amanda Coneyworth.

"As a result, all stores in the Mosaic Brands Group will be wound down over the coming months. We expect all stores will be closed by mid-April.

"The receivers would again like to acknowledge and thank the Mosaic management team, employees, customers and suppliers for their support throughout the receivership process”.

The administrators say the exact timing of individual store closures will vary depending on stock levels and sell-through, and are encouraging customers to visit their local stores and e-commerce sites while stocks last as sale events and promotions take place in all outlets. 

The shuttering marks an end to the Noni B label which has its origins dating back almost half a century when Alan Kindl acquired a women's fashion boutique in Belmont, NSW in 1977. By the turn of the Millennium the brand had grown to such a size that it listed on the ASX in 2000.

The Kindl family sold its stake in the business in 2014 through a sale of its 42 per cent stake to venture capital fund Alceon Group, which ultimately failed in an attempted takeover.

Two years later the group acquired Pretty Girl Fashion Group to take hold of the Table Eight, Rockmans, BeMe, and W. Lane brands for $75 million, and this was followed by the $31 million purchase of Autograph, Crossroads, Katies, Millers and Rivers from Specialty Fashion Group.

Moving on from its original retail brand to encapsulate the broad variety of retailers within the group, the company changed its name to Mosaic Brands in 2019.

One of the last remaining closures for the group, women's apparel retailer Millers, has been around since 1993 when it was founded by Ian Miller and Gary Perlstein, although their Miller's Retail Ltd business would later be renamed to Specialty Fashion Group in 2006.

After Specialty Fashion Group sold off a raft of brands to Mosaic's predecessor Noni B, it was left with just one brand in City Chic, leading to its name change to City Chic Collective (ASX: CCX) which is still listed on the ASX.

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