Dolcis, the shoe retailer founded by a market trader in 1863, became the first big high street casualty of the credit crunch yesterday.

KPMG was brought in as administrator as 89 stores and concessions out of 185 were closed and nearly 600 of the chain's 1,200 staff lost their jobs.

Industry experts said that several more retailers could collapse soon, but Brian Green, a restructuring partner at KPMG, said that he was hopeful that a buyer for Dolcis could be found, given the strength of the brand.

“There are a significant number of positives about this business,” Mr Green said. He added that specialist shoe retailers were bearing the brunt of a slowdown that had led to billions of pounds being wiped off the stock market value of some of the high street's biggest names.

Chains such as Dolcis have been losing market share to fashion retailers such as New Look and Primark for much of the past five years.

Stead & Simpson, a rival to Dolcis, hired PriceWaterhouseCoopers recently to investigate the potential for a sale, while Clarks sold Ravel last year.

John Kinnaird, the Scottish retail entrepreneur who bought Dolcis for £2.7 million in December 2006 from Alexon, home to Envy and Bay Trading, is thought to have been looking for £2 million of emergency funding since Epic, his private equity backers, pulled out this month.

It is believed that Dolcis was unable to pay its rent bill last month after sustaining heavy losses over the summer.

Mr Kinnaird, a former colleague of Sir Tom Hunter, the retail tycoon, had been planning to roll out a new-look format across part of the Dolcis estate this year.

Speaking at the opening of the first “new era” store in Glasgow last month, Mr Kinnaird said: “Dolcis was an old, tired brand that hadn't been invested in for 20 years.”

Richard Hyman, managing director of Verdict, the retail consultancy, said: “The shoe market has been very, very difficult and it is perhaps the single most difficult sector in retail right now. But I believe there will be more corporate failures in other areas.

"The high street will be fortunate to grow by 2 per cent this year, while costs are going up by 4 per cent. You don't have to be from Harvard Business School to work out that is going to put enormous pressure on all retailers.”

Jessica Price Brown, of Drapers Record, the fashion industry magazine, said that a rescue deal for Dolcis was unlikely and that a buyer may opt to pick up only the brand rather than the stores as well.

She said: “The fashion retailers have all entered the shoe market and that has absolutely hammered the specialist shoe stores. New Look is now the market leader for women aged 25 to 40 and that's just in the last five years.”

Dolcis would not be the only big name to disappear from the high street in recent years.

Well-known brands that no longer trade in the UK include C&A, the department store group, and Courts, the furniture chain.

The company can trace its roots to 1863, when John Upson began to sell shoes from a barrow at a market in Woolwich, southeast London.

His first store was called the “Great Boot Provider”. The Dolcis name appeared in the 1920s after the company went public.

It is believed Mr Upson took the name from a Swiss sock stamp.

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