CLOSING TIME
The four high street chains closing shops before Christmas with 20 locations set to shut for good
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FOUR of the UK's most popular retailers are set to close down stores just before Christmas, in another blow to shoppers.
This year has proved to be another challenging one for many of Britain's favourite brands.
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Iconic retailers such as Ted Baker were wiped off the high street due to financial challenges and weak demand from customers.
Shoppers were also forced to wave goodbye to nearly 200 Carpetright stores after the brand collapsed before being partially rescued by rival company Tavi .
And now at least 20 stores - owned by some of shoppers' favourite brands - are set to close right before the holidays.
You can check out the full list below.
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HOMEBASE
Up to 70 Homebase were saved by The Range last month after it collapsed.
But the store has confirmed that six of its sites will close before the end of the year.
These include sites in Sutton Coldfield, Bromsgrove, Cromer, Fareham, Newark and Rugby.
Three more Homebase sites in Derry, Inverurie, and Omagh are also set to close in the coming months, along with a branch in Glenrothes near Fife.
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The stores are set to be converted into Sainsbury's sites after the brand acquires them over the summer.
Around 49 Homebase stores still remain at risk of closure.
Why are shops closing stores?
THE ORIGINAL FACTORY SHOP
The discounter is pulling the plug on its store in Haverfordwest, Wales on December 14.
Bosses at the bargain beauty to electrical store have already shut down nine of its stores in recent months.
These include:
- Brightlingsea, Essex
- Bodmin, Cornwall
- Chepstow, Wales
- Fakenham, Norfolk
- Harwich, Essex
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
- Padiham, Lancashire
- Taunton, Somerset
- Deal, Kent
But it's not all bad news, as it has been opening stores across the UK too, as it shakes up its presence on the high street.
The full list of stores that have opened since August 2023 includes:
- Kirkintilloch - opened August 24
- Stonehaven - opened August 31
- Blandford Forum - opened August 31
- Haddington - opened September 7
- Wetherby - opened September 7
- Nairn - opened September 14
- Ashbourne - opened September 14
- Castle Douglas - opened September 21
- Penrith - opened September 21
- Inverness - opened September 28
- Attleborough - opened September 28
- Ayr - opened October 5
- Ringwood - opened October 5
- Perth - opened October 12
- Lanark - opened October 19
- Peterhead - opened October 26
Ann Summers
The raunchy retailer confirmed it would close in location in Doncaster on Christmas Eve.
Ann Summers - famed for its lingerie and bedroom toys - is exiting the area after several decades on the Yorkshire high street.
However, the shop has promised to go out with a bang, launching a "warehouse clearance event" and a 70% off sale.
The next nearest shop is in Sheffield which is a half an hour drive away from Doncaster's Baxter Gate store.
Ann Summers has around 80 stores across the UK and Ireland and an online shop.
You can find your nearest branch by visiting, www.annsummers.com/stores.
Dobbies
Garden retailer Dobbies will close 12 of its sites before Christmas.
It was announced back in September that it would axe a number of its locations as part of a major restructuring plan.
However, the process needed to be approved by the courts with bosses given the green light yesterday to go ahead with the closures.
A total of 10 sites will now shut, with an eleventh site in Antrim originally earmarked for closure saved.
It added that discussions with landlords over rent reductions meant that two additional garden centres in Morpeth and Stapleton would be moved to other garden centre operators.
In a statement, the firm said the move will enable Dobbies to return to "sustainable profitability and unlock access to "future investment".
Now come December, the following locations will shut for good.
- Altrincham - December 17
- Gloucester - December 15
- Gosforth - December 19
- Harlestone Heath - December 17
- Huntingdon TBC
- Inverness on December 23
- King’s Lynn - December 15
- Pennine - December 15
- Reading - December 23
- Stratford-upon-Avon on - December 23
Dobbies will continue to operate around 60 stores across the UK.
TROUBLE ON THE HIGH STREET
The news comes amid a challenging time for the whole of the UK’s retail sector.
High inflation coupled with a squeeze on consumers' finances has meant people have less money to spend in the shops.
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Also, the rising popularity in online shopping has meant people are favouring digital ordering over visiting a physical store.
This ongoing trend has seen brands such as Paperchase vanish completely.
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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