Moda in Pelle, a British brand of fashion footwear based in Leeds that has its own network of 27 single-brand stores, has acquired Solution Footwear, a bankrupt chain of 5 shoe shops based in Nottingham. Acting separately, Stephen and Claire Buck, owners of Moda in Pelle, have privately rescued an independent department store, Peters of Huddersfield, which went into court-supervised administration in February. Ironically, Moda in Pelle itself suffered the same fate last April, but it was promptly bought back by the Bucks couple. They then obtained £2 million of funding from the Bank of Scotland to widen their retail network. The brand, which claims annual sales of about £15 million (€21.7m-$27.8m), is otherwise sold to more than 200 wholesale customers. Moda in Pelle long delivered to the Peters department store and the Bucks became friendly with its owners, David and Caroline Whittle. However, Peters ran into cash-flow problems early this year, mainly due to the opening of a competing shopping center in Huddersfield two years ago. The Bucks couple reportedly acquired Peters out of administration in a deal worth close to £500,000.