TWO more companies with stores in North Devon have fallen victim to the credit crunch.

The Officers Club and Passion for Perfume both located in Green Lanes Shopping Centre, went into administration yesterday.

The Officers Club, which also has a store at Atlantic Village, Bideford, has been taken over by accountancy firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, with 280 jobs and 32 of its 150 shops being axed.

Manager of the Barnstaple branch, Andy Cook, said today that the fate of the store was not yet decided.

But an employee was tasked with writing 'closing down sale' on the shop windows.

Mr Cook said: "We don't know yet if this store will close but our outlet at Atlantic Village in Bideford shut yesterday. It will be sad to see the Atlantic Village store go — I used to work there before moving to Barnstaple.

"It's not a great time to lose your job but we're all trying to remain positive. As of today we are starting a big 50% off sale."

While the Officers Club administration may have come as a surprise to staff, workers at fragrance shop, Passion for Perfume, had known their fate for almost a month.

Sharon Tippett, store manager of Passion For Perfume in Barnstaple, said: "Although we only went into administration yesterday, we were told on December 8 that the shop would be closing.

"The store will be closed by December 31 and all 45 shops in the chain will be axed too. There are five members of staff here and this is a really terrible time of year to lose your job.

"We do have a bit of a sale on at the moment to clear all the stock but we can't reduce products too much as there are still staff bills outstanding.

"My main concern now, what with the closure of Woolworths too, is that there will be loads of people going for the same jobs and making the market very competitive."

Woolworths, also in Green Lanes, is due to close its Barnstaple store on January 2.