CLOSING TIME
Retailer launches ‘everything must go’ closing down sale before beloved store shuts after 157 years on high street
The shop is a pillar of the local community
A RETAILER has launched an "everything must go" closing down sale before the beloved store shuts, after 61 years on the high street.
Warwicks, an iconic suit shop in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, has been on sale for over a year.
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But, after failing to find a buyer, the family business, which first opened in 1868, is now on the brink of closure.
Unless a last-minute saviour appears, it will shut its doors for good in June this year.
However, owner Neil Warwick, 61, insisted that the shop was "in a very financial position".
He claimed the decision to close was purely a result of him wanting to retire.
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He told the Northamptonshire Telegraph: "I’ve given a lot of my life to the shop, been here Saturdays and done the wedding fairs on Sundays and it is a bit surprising and very sad. Just this morning people have been coming in as normal.
"If we were going bust or had no trade it would be understandable. Trade isn’t as good as it used to be because the High Street has gone down a little, but we’re still profitable."
He also shared the news of the huge closing down sale over the coming months - with remaining stock going at a 50 per cent discount.
And he reassured customers that the hire department of the business would be honouring all pre-existing bookings.
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Warwicks was originally opened by tailor Warwick, and eventually handed down to Neil - the fifth generation of family owners - 41 years ago.
But now, the long-running businessman hopes to enjoy retirement like many of his customers.
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However, he admitted the closure would be a terrible loss for the community, adding: “Wellingborough is Warwicks and Warwicks is Wellingborough.”
TROUBLE ON THE HIGH STREET
Just this month, bosses at a number of prominent retailers have revealed plans to cut stores from their estates.
Garden centre giant Dobbies closed 12 of its stores before Christmas to help shore up extra costs following a restructuring plan.
Meanwhile, Homebase 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 garden and homeware retailer crashed into administration last month, but around 70 stores were rescued by CDS Superstores, the owner of The Range and Wilko.
At the time it entered administration, Homebase operated 141 stores.
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.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
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.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko 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.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
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