CLOSING TIME
‘Another bites the dust’, iconic high street chain with 1,400 UK stores to close seaside town centre shop
The chain is popular for its book and stationery range
AN iconic high street retailer with 1,400 UK stores is set to close one of its shops in a seaside town centre.
WHSmith is preparing to shut its Bournemouth town centre location early next year as shoppers cried "another bites the dust".
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Sources close to the business have revealed that WHSmith is set to close its Old Christchurch Road branch, possibly as soon as January.
While the company has not officially confirmed the closure, a spokesperson hinted at the possibility, The Bournemouth Echo reports.
They said: "We keep our store lease agreements under regular review, including at our Old Christchurch Road store in Bournemouth and will share updates on any changes to the store in future."
In another setback for Bournemouth’s town centre, the soon-to-be-vacant unit is already being advertised by estate agents Goadsby.
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The shop is available for rent at £150,000 per annum, with terms open to negotiation.
The Post Office inside the store, however, will remain operational for now, though its future is uncertain.
A Post Office spokesperson confirmed they have not yet received any closure notice from WH Smith.
Bournemouth residents have reacted to the closure on Facebook, with one user commenting: "Another shop of Bournemouth bites the dust!! Shame."
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Another added: "Honestly not surprised, know one really shops in Bournemouth, there’s more shops in Poole, Bournemouth is mainly coffee shops and restaurants then places to actually do any shopping.
"I’d rather go to Poole or Southampton if I need anything."
Hungry customer left gobsmacked as two blokes riding giant HORSES stroll into local chip shop
A third replied: "Omg soon [there will] be nothing left. Dead town."
While another person wrote: "WHSmiths has failed to update with the times, it will only get worse."
WHSmith is closing a number of branches across the UK as it looks to extend its arm into the travel sector.
The retail giant, which runs over 1,100 stores, has shuttered eight stores since March 2023, including in Manchester and Bicester, England.
Meanwhile, the stationer has waved goodbye to branches in Oban, Scotland, and Ramsgate, Kent.
But it also comes amid a time of expansion for the chain, which is opening 15 branches at airports and train stations in 2024 in a boost for shoppers.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
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