The House of Sher has gone into administration with debts of around £1million after the owners struggled to cope with a dramatic fall in the number of customers in recent years.

A family spokesman said more than 40 staff were made redundant in the last year as frantic attempts were made to save a business which began trading in Wallace Street almost three decades ago. He said: "The owners have done the decent thing.

"They made certain that staff left on full redundancy and decided to close the business down at a time when debts were insignificant."

The owners are two sons of the founder of the Glasgow-based Sher Group, which operates a number of companies.

The House of Sher operated as a subsidiary and had been struggling in recent years after the UK went into recession.

Three floors were closed off to try to minimise losses and in recent months only family members staffed the warehouse.

The spokesman added: "Online shopping has killed the business. There were no customers coming in and with a rates bill of £100,000 due in March the owners decided to cease trading."

gordon.thomson@heraldandtimes.co.uk