STAFF at the Darlington branch of Land of Leather are facing an uncertain future after their store was marked for closure yesterday.

Administrators for the furniture company announced yesterday that 33 of the chain’s 109 stores will close.

Administrators Deloitte said it hoped to redeploy staff, including five at Darlington, to other stores but if it could not, they would lose their jobs.

Thirty of the stores are in the UK with the remainder in the Irish Republic.

Customers who have outstanding purchases at any of the stores set to close will be either transferred to another Land of Leather nearby or dealt with by the group’s head office.

Joint administrator Lee Manning of Deloitte said: “We have begun discounting the stock in those stores with a view to winding down.

“However, we continue to talk to prospective buyers for the business, and all other stores remain open and available for purchase as a going concern.”

Mr Manning added: “While we are making every effort to sell Land of Leather as a going concern, it is apparent that interested parties will not buy all of the 109 stores.”

Land of Leather appointed administrators earlier this month following a slump in demand for ‘‘big-ticket’’ goods as consumers looked to cut spending.

The Kent-based company opened its first outlet in 1997 with the aim of bringing affordable leather sofas to the mass market.

It floated in 2005 and its shares reached as high as 357p in January 2007 as the property market approached its peak. But shares were suspended at less than 3p on January 12 – valuing the entire company at £1.06m.

The group has also been hit by the weakness of the pound.

It buys 40 per cent of its stock in the Far East in dollars, and at its final results in October said it remained exposed to movements in sterling against the dollar and the euro.