CLOSING TIME
‘It’s a dreadful shame,’ cry shoppers as major high street chain to shut town centre store for good
This isn't the only chain closure in the region
SHOPPERS are crying "it's a dreadful shame" as a major high street chain announces the closure of its town centre store.
The store, based in the Welsh town of Rhyl, has revealed its exact closure date.
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WHSmith's on Rhyl High Street will close for good on February 15, 2025.
As reported by North Wales Live, the stationery giant revealed the store was "no longer sustainable".
A WHSmith spokesperson said: "We can confirm that the WHSmith store in Rhyl will be closing on Saturday 15 February, 2025.
"It is no longer sustainable to continue to trade from this location and the decision has been taken to close the store as a result of the forthcoming lease expiry.
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"We are disappointed to be losing our presence in Rhyl and we would like to thank all our customers for their support and for shopping with us.
"We are also extremely grateful for the commitment of our in store colleagues who we will support with this transition and redeploy to nearby stores, where possible.”
Over the past few years various WHSmith stores in the region have too, sadly closed.
Such as in Colwyn Bay and one in Bangor.
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Many unhappy shoppers took to social media to share their woes in response to the closure in Rhyl.
One said: "It’s a dreadful shame what has happened to the High Street, they should never have taken Marks and Spencer’s to Prestatyn it’s buzzing there. Disgraceful!"
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A second said: "Awww lovely memories of going upstairs to browse all the books. Rhyl is turning into a sad place."
And a third said: "Spent many a happy Friday afternoon in there while my Grandkids picked their books so sad to see this."
While a fourth commented: "Such a shame. Rhyl high street is ruined."
And then a fifth said: "Everything is going from Rhyl. The last time I was there I wash shocked at the changes and non seem to be for the better."
The Facebook post has in fact racked up 72 likes and hundreds of comments.
This closure comes after it was revealed WHSmith's in March, Cambridgeshire will also shut down in January 2025.
Again, many people took to Facebook to express their frustration with the closure and the state of the town's high street.
One user said: "I knew this would happen. God, our high street is dying...All that work seems like such a massive waste.
"And on top of that, more jobs going. I hope all the staff find work ASAP."
Another said: "Shame as some books and mags will have to be bought online now.
"Mind you almost always empty when I've been in there."
Other WHSmith closures
In the past 11 months, as many as nine WHSmith stores in the UK have closed.
They include:
- Crewe, Cheshire - March, 2023
- Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire - March, 2023
- Bicester, Oxfordshire - August, 2023
- Manchester - December 2, 2023
- Alfreton, Derbyshire - January, 2024
- Ramsgate, Kent - January, 2024
- Oban, Argyll and Bute, Scotland - February, 2024
- Nantwich, South Cheshire - February, 2024
- Margate, Kent - April 20, 2024
WHSmith also confirmed it is "regrettably" closing its store in Street, Somerset, early next year.
Despite the closure, the WHSmith is set to benefit from more stores in the near future.
It comes after news that WHSmith plans to open 110 new shops this year in airports, railway stations and hospitals.
More than 50 of them will be in the US and 15 in the UK.
The stationer already has 580 sites in various global travel locations.
UK travel sales grew by 15% in the 20 weeks to January, but it's in the US where the chain has the potential to flourish.
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Chief exec Carl Cowling said: "I am particularly excited by the substantial growth opportunities that exist in [the US] market.
"The group is in its strongest ever position as a global travel retailer."
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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