Health food retailer Julian Graves has collapsed into administration after being hit by a drop in consumer spending.

Chris Farrington, Neville Kahn and Lee Manning, partners at Deloitte, have been appointed as administrators to the 189-store retailer.

The brand is owned by NBTY Europe following its purchase from Icelandic investment vehicle Baugur in 2008. NBTY also owns Holland and Barrett, which is not in administration.

Deloitte said: “The company has been adversely affected by the tough economic climate, in particular, the ongoing pressure on consumer spending, a competitive high street trading environment, and rising commodity prices.”

The administrators said the chain would carry on trading while it tried to find a buyer for the business.

Jonathan De Mello, head of retail consultancy at CBRE, said: “Julian Graves entering administration is not a huge surprise, given health food retail has become an increasingly crowded place in the last few years, with both Chinese medicine specialists and supermarkets – not to mention online retail – all muscling in on what was traditionally a space occupied by Julian Graves and a handful of others.

“Given Julian Graves tend to trade in a number of secondary centres across the UK, it is likely that a large chunk of the portfolio will not be re-let to another retailer any time soon. This will add to the historically high retail vacancy rate we are seeing in high streets across the UK.”