Branches of bankrupt department store V&D are open from today for several weeks in an effort to sell off as much stock as possible.

Twenty-five stores will open on Wednesday, 25 on Thursday and the remaining 12 on Friday. They will close again between April 13 and April 24. Clothes and household goods are being sold at discounts of up to 60%.

The bankruptcy of the V&D group at the end of last year has led to the loss of thousands of jobs and many old staffers have refused to come back for the final few weeks, news agency ANP says.

V&D stands for Vroom en Dreesmann, one of the largest department store chains in the Netherlands. The empire was created in 1887 when Amsterdam shop owners and brothers-in-law Willem Vroom and Anton Dreesmann joined forces.