Independent travel agent Hays Travel has apparently came forward to buy 555 Thomas Cook stores in the midst of its collapse last month. The holiday operator has already been running a recruitment drive to employ 421 of Thomas Cook’s ex- staff. Hays have also offered further employment to its airline crew. Now the Sunderland-based firm is making moves to set aside the 175-year-old travel operator’s failing stores from sitting empty.
Hays is hopeful to boost its high street presence by making the purchase, hoping to complement its existing 190 travel agent shops. This move gives it shops in areas where it had negligible or no presence, including Scotland and Wales.
As Hays says, the new stores will provide a “significant” number of re-employment opportunities for Thomas Cook staff who had earlier been left in the uncertainty.
Mr John Hays, who set up the firm 40 years ago and owns the business with wife Irene, said in a statement “Thomas Cook was a much-loved brand employing talented people. We look forward to working with many of them.’’
He hoped the shops would reopen soon. It had been an emotional day, he said, with many staff crying when they were told their jobs were saved.
He further said it was not easy to give cast-iron guarantees about every Thomas Cook shop as there would now be talks with individual landlords.
However, “it is certainly our intention to take on all the staff; to welcome them back,” he added. The shops will be branded under the Hays name.
Hays at present works with tour operators including Jet2 and TUI. Since 2018 the firm has achieved a turnover of £1billion.
With this news, customers have flocked to Twitter to share their happiness.
David Chapman, the Official Receiver of Thomas Cook said “This represents an important step in the liquidation process, as we seek to realise the company’s assets”.
The time Thomas Cook collapsed, it put 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, including 9,000 in the UK.
