I always wondered how long it would be until a double glazing company used Twitter to announce that they have had to close their doors. Well on the evening of the 11th February, J & P Windows, who trade in the south of England, announced on the social media site that they had to cease trading. These were the two tweets they sent to break the news:

“J & P have had to cease trading. We employed a rescue company to try and save us after builders went bust owing us thousands sorry to all our…”

“customers old and new. Thank you for all the years of support. Please not that that you have a 10 year ins back guarantee and/or deposit insurance…”

I would have liked to include a link to the J & P twitter page but it appears to have been shut down. The J & P website it still up and running. But for how long remains to be seen.

J & P traded for 26 years, which for our industry is pretty good going. It is of course a shame for a company to be forced to close in such a manner. Having to close doors because of external circumstances is awful. In this case it was caused by builders going bust which had a knock on effect.

This is nothing new. But what is new is that J & P have been brave and bold enough to announce their closure first, and on Twitter. It is the first instance of a Twitter bankruptcy I have seen and is proof that the way business operates through the internet and social media has changed. Personally, I think it has taken courage and balls to come out in front of everyone and announce something so serious and final. I wonder if we will see any more in the future…