THE chairman of PriceLess and Barratts shoe chain parent Stylo is planning to buy back 200 stores and safeguard around 3,000 jobs, it was reported.

Michael Ziff, whose family owns 65% of the group, is working on the deal with administrator Deloitte.

Bradford-based Stylo operates 400 high street shoe stores in the UK under Barratts and PriceLess brands and employs a total of 5,450 staff.

They include 34 staff in Huddersfield, where Stylo has a branch of PriceLess at New Street and Barratts in the Kingsgate Centre and concessions in Dorothy Perkins and Bay Trading.

The parent company was forced to call in administrators last week after talks with creditors and landlords aimed at retrieving its stores from administration failed.

It is understood Mr Ziff is the front-runner among a handful of interested buyers.

PriceLess and Barratts fell into administration on January 26.

Stylo had hoped the stores’ creditors would agree to rescue the business from administration and place it in a company voluntary arrangement – a deal which would have given the firm breathing space in its debt repayments.

But the scheme was voted down, prompting Stylo’s collapse.