High street fashion retailer with 58 stores suddenly closes branch – but it’s not all bad for shoppers

A HIGH street fashion retailer with 58 stores has suddenly closed a branch.

Phase Eight shut the doors of its Cheltenham store in the Promenade on Monday.

To see the chain’s full range at a standalone shop, customers will have to travel 25 miles up the M5 to Worcester.

There are also concessions in House of Fraser and John Lewis a few minutes walk away.

There was no public announcement from the company before the store shut.

Empty clothes rails and a note about the closure greeted customers.

The notice in the window read: “This store is closed. Thank you for all your support over the years.

“We are very sorry to say goodbye to our Cheltenham store, but we hope you will visit us in Worcester, our nearest standalone store.”

All staff from the store have been redeployed to new roles.

A full statement from the company said: “We have sadly closed our Cheltenham store due to the lease expiring.

“We would like to thank our Cheltenham customers for their support over the years and they can still find Phase Eight in our John Lewis and House of Fraser concessions in the area as well as online at www.phase-eight.com.

“We are happy to report that all staff from the store have been redeployed to new roles either on our Phase Eight concessions or to our sister brands Hobbs and Whistles.

“Phase Eight continues to open new stores across the UK and Europe and we are always looking for new locations to explore.

“We currently have 58 stand alone stores in the UK. Our next opening is on Friday the 29th of September in Cambridge.

“Between now and the end of the year we are also opening new stores in Merry Hill, Stratford, Manchester and Kingston with more planned for next year too.

“Merry Hill is due to open the 31st of October the other dates are slightly tbc at the moment so cannot confirm the exact dates.

“Openings for early 2024 include Blue Water, Blanchard’s Town in Ireland and Hamburg in Germany.”

Why are stores closing?

Retailers have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.

High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.

The high street has seen a whole raft of closures in recent months, and more are on their way.

Farmfoods store in Market Street, Huddersfield, is to close on September 24.

Central Co-op is closing down one of its branches in Atherstone, Coventry this month.

However, the branch is due to be taken over by supermarket giant Tesco.

Wetherspoons is also pulling the plug on some of its pubs.

Shoezone will pull the shutters down on one of its stores in its latest round of closures.

House of Fraser confirmed to The Sun that its branch in Guildford will shut on September 30.

Its store in Solihull closed on August 28.