British department store owner BHS is to close with the loss of 8,000 jobs with another 3,000 jobs in danger, administrators said Thursday after failing to find a buyer.

"Philip Duffy and Benjamin Wiles, managing directors of Duff & Phelps (the administrators) have today announced the orderly wind down of the BHS business," they said in a statement, adding the group's 163 stores would shut over the coming weeks amid continuing efforts to sell the stores.