Toys R Us and electrical giant Maplin have both gone into administration, putting more than 5,000 jobs at risk.
Maplin - owned by Rutland Partners - had put the business up for sale, but talks with a potential buyer are understood to have broken down.
It had been in talks with Edinburgh Woollen Mill, the clothing company that owns Peacocks, Country Casuals and several other retailers, over a possible sale, according to Sky News.
It has 200 stores and 2,500 staff in the UK.
Just two months ago, Toys R Us won creditor backing to help plug a £9million blackhole.
It had been fighting to pay off a £15million VAT bill thanks to weak Christmas trading, but had hoped to avoid the threat of administration.
This puts 3,200 jobs at risk, but bosses for the giant are yet to confirm what will happen to employees.
Toys R Us in the UK has blamed its problems on its "warehouse-style stores".
It opened these in the 1980s and 1990s, but it said in December that they had become "too big and expensive to run in the current retail environment".
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