A GLASGOW furniture store which went into administration was saved after a £1million relaunch by its founder.

Dwell, in the city's Princes Square, closed in June after the firm announced around 300 workers at its 24 stores across the UK faced losing their jobs.

The upmarket retailer, which was majority-owned by private equity firm Key Capital Partners, struggled with sales and closed all of its branches on June 20.

But the store reopened earlier this month after Aamir Ahmad, who founded the company in 2003, stepped in to sign a deal.

Mr Ahmad launched the company with friends and family but was replaced along with his co-founders in November last year.

A total of six stores have been rescued after Mr Ahmad and his management team injected £1m. Throughout the country 150 jobs were saved, with eight in Glasgow.

Mr Ahmad, now CEO of the company, said: "When it folded it was awful because the store was like my baby. We managed to form a plan to buy the company back.

"It was such a quick turn around but we literally got the stores opened four or five days after we signed the papers. All the staff were made redundant so we were able to go back to them and give as many people their jobs back as we could manage."

Joint administrators John Whitfield and Philip Duffy, of Duff and Phelps, were appointed when the firm was forced to close.

Along with Glasgow, other shops to reopen include the Tottenham Court Road branch in London and another in Manchester. Mr Ahmad said his team picked the best performing stores, and hope to open more in the future.

He said: "Glasgow was so successful for us and it is such a great location that we wanted to open it. And we've been so surprised by how many customers have come in. It has been the top store."

Dwell has been on the ground floor of Princes Square since July 2007

rachel.loxton@eveningtimes.co.uk