Sock Shop Holdings fell back into the administrator's hands a second time after becoming part of the Facia Group, a retail conglomerate of 850 shops and 80,000 employees that collapsed in 1996 with debts of £70m due to the fraudulent actions of its owner, Stephen Hinchliffe [REF].
In 2003, Sock Shop (by then reduced to 13 stores across the UK) was bought for £3.9 million by the Birmingham-based firm of Harris Watson Holdings.