Hilco Merchant Australia will liquidate the stock of all 30 Fletcher Jones stores, including one in Wollongong, administrator Bruno Secatore of Cor Cordis said in a statement.

The stores themselves would remain open as negotiations to sell the brand name continue.

Mr Secatore said Hilco would start the liquidation process tomorrow.

Fletcher Jones is the latest in a string of retail failures over the past year including outdoorswear chain Colorado, bookstore Borders and fashion groups Ed Hardy, Bettina Liano, Brown Sugar and Satch.

Founded in 1918 by World War I veteran David Fletcher Jones, the company expanded to become a post-war Australian manufacturing success that, at its peak, employed 3000 people at four factories.

Fletcher Jones's present owners, the Dimmick family, bought the business in 1995. They slashed the number of stores, favouring those in lower-rent shopping strips.

Negotiations

M r Secatore said he would "continue to negotiate with parties who are interested in acquiring the Fletcher Jones brand/store network".

"Hilco Merchant Australia will help the administrators to maximise the value of the stock and therefore the return to creditors," he said.

"It is too early to speculate what the final return to creditors will be."

Last month administrator Cor Cordis said 15 Fletcher Jones stores would close immediately, while 53 retail staff and eight head office jobs had taken redundancies.