BUDGET record store chain Music Zone today announced it is to close 31 shops, including its flagship Glasgow store - which only opened last month.

A total of 325 staff have been laid off across the UK, including scores of workers at stores in Glasgow Forge and Argyle Street, the new shop which opened in the former Tower Records store just before Christmas.

It was the company's largest Scottish store.

However, the firm's Sauchiehall Street shop has escaped closure and is expected to be taken over by another operator.

Music Zone was put into administration on January 3, with bosses blaming "challenging trading conditions" and weak pre-Christmas spending, which left it unable to compete in the aggressive DVD and music market.

Administrators Deloitte then said it would attempt to sell the chain, which has 104 UK stores, as a going concern.

And they insisted there would be "no immediate redundancies" among the 1100 staff and that shops would stay open.

But today Deloitte announced the closure of 31 stores and hundreds of redundancies.

The firm will continue to operate 72 stores across the UK, employing 775 staff, and administrators say several parties have expressed an interest in the business.

Bill Dawson, partner at Deloitte, said: "During the first week of trading the administrators spent a considerable amount of time assessing the viability of the business, and the difficult decision was taken to close a number of stores.

"However, we have commenced a marketing strategy to seek a buyer of the business as a going concern and continue to work hard to achieve a positive result for Music Zone."

Music Zone also operates shops in Dumfries and Dunfermline, which will also shut.

The Stockport-based company was founded by Russ Grainger from a market stall in Manchester in 1984.

He sold the business for £12million to a management team led by current managing director Steve Oliver in March 2005.