THE Exeter branch of lingerie chain La Senza has closed after the company went into administration.

The shop in Princesshay was among 84 stores and 18 concessions to close this week, with the loss of about 1,300 jobs. Kuwaiti firm Alshaya acquired 60 other La Senza stores, securing around 1,100 jobs.

It comes after new figures showed the number of empty shops in Exeter city centre remains well below the national average of around 14 per cent. With 40 empty units, the vacancy rate stood at 6.4 per cent.

City centre manager John Harvey said: "These figures are very encouraging. Eight areas are showing the same vacancy rates as in November, three areas are showing an increase and five areas are showing fewer vacancies.

"When you take these figures alongside the investment coming through into the city centre, we have a very strong launch-pad for the coming 12 months.

"There are clearly difficult times ahead and I would expect some retailer casualties over the coming weeks and months, but equally to see further new names coming through."

Meanwhile, staff at Blacks and Millets stores in Exeter, Exmouth and Newton Abbot are waiting to find out whether their jobs are safe after JD Sports Fashion bought all of Blacks Leisure's 290 stores out of administration for £20 million. Some redundancies are expected as the new owner assesses the performance of each store before deciding which ones to close.

Elsewhere the Guildhall Shopping Centre has reported a year-on-year increase in footfall over the Christmas and new year period, bucking the national trend. The number of people visiting the centre between December 19 and January 2 was up over eight per cent on the same period in 2010, compared with a national benchmark of minus 2.5 per cent for all shopping centres in the UK.

During the week before Christmas, 322,655 people visited the centre, compared with 233,494 in the same week a year earlier.

Centre manager Andrew McNeilly said: "This peak figure has been one of the busiest Christmas weeks in the centre's history, and a vast improvement on our performance last year. It was heartening to see that an increase in visitor numbers has also meant healthy figures for many of our tenants.

"To have performed so significantly well against the national average bodes well for the retail scene not just at the Guildhall Shopping Centre but for Exeter and the region too."