Published Thursday, 19 January 2012
The company, which has a shop in Belfast's Victoria Square, has closed five stores and 60 employees have been made redundant.
Earlier this week Peacocks went into administration and 30 stores and 400 staff in Northern Ireland are at risk.
"What is unusual about Peacocks is that it represents a value fashion retailer in a recession as consumers were changing their physiology we are becoming more price sensitive so in essence Peacocks should be an attractive offer, offering consumers value for money," said Dr Karise Hutchinson from the University of Ulster.
"But what we are seeing today is that, that very concept is under threat."
Lingerie seller La Senza has also run into trouble, as have Blacks Leisure and Millets, although they have received an eleventh hour reprieve thanks to a takeover by JD Sports, however redundancies cannot be ruled out.
NIIRTA's Glyn Roberts said consumer confidence in the region is still very low.
"People at the end of the day are not spending what they were," he added.
"We also have a situation where Christmas for some retailers wasn't as good as they hoped and we have always said that the fortunes of our retail sector, particularly our independent retail sector is tied up in the fortunes of our town centres.
"That is why it is important the new programme for government has town centre regeneration efforts right at the heart of it."