@Mr ChriZ
"So next time you go to buy something, and the other shop doesn't have Zavii to compete with and so they stick the price up €60 that's gonna make you happy is it?"
Err...no....I'd just buy it online instead, and it'd probably be even cheaper.
What is almost certainly true is that these won't be the last companies going under, where they have been surviving by borrowing larger and larger sums of money, relying on the false "booming economy" (supported by ridiculous house prices) to keep them afloat. I have no sympathy for the companies who were too short sighted to realise that going hundreds of millions of pounds into debt based on an assumption (of the "boom" continuing) was a bad idea.
Of course, I have every sympathy for the staff who have lost or will lose their jobs because of something almost totally beyond their control.
There are some retailers in much stronger positions, where they have either kept their debts manageable or even actually have cash in the bank on balance. Of course, even they will be tightening their belts and perhaps cutting a few jobs, just to reduce expenditure.
Unfortunately the massive upsurge in consumer spending was always unsustainable. It was based on a housing market with rising values sustained by banks lending people more money than they could possibly afford to pay back. Once the market drops to a certain level, where first-time buyers can afford to buy a house on their salaries, it should stabilise again. All we can do is to hope that these people who control our economy have learnt a lesson to control it in the future.
I don't hold my breath.