Store Twenty One has filed for an administration hearing.
The value fashion chain has lined up restructuring experts at AlixPartners to handle the process.
Store Twenty One has 218 shops and employs around 750 staff.
The hearing will take place on 11 August. Before then it will consider restructuring options including a CVA, a sale of part or whole of the business to release funds, or search for further investment.
UPDATE: What next for Store Twenty One?
If no solution is found, administration is the most likely outcome, making it the latest in a series of several high profile distress situations on the British high street this year after Beales, Brantano, Blue Inc, Austin Reed and BHS.
The chain, owned by Indian textiles giant Alok Group, has been loss-making for a number of years as it struggled in the highly competitive value fashion sector.
It first came under pressure in 2006, when it was called QS. It closed around 140 shops and invested heavily in a rebrand to become Store Twenty One.
In 2013 it sought rent reductions from landlords and bailiffs were called in to a number of its shops. However-, it has recently started to show performance improvements after offering new products.
Group turnover was more than £92.2m in the year to 28 March 2015, compared with £89.4m a year earlier, and pre-tax losses narrowed to £6.7m from £9.8m. It closed 10 loss-making stores during its financial year and opened 38 new branches.
Store Twenty One started out as a manufacturing business in London in 1932, supplying clothing to Marks & Spencer and other retailers in the West End. After the Second World War, it launched factory outlet stores trading under Quality Seconds.
After rebranding as QS in 1987, the business floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1990 and expanded into the Midlands and North of England. In 2002 a group of investors set up Hamsard 2353 Ltd to purchase the entire share capital of the company for £15.8m and returned it to private ownership. It was bought by Alok in 2007.
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