Popular fashion brand with 87 shops closing city centre store within days as it launches big sale
A POPULAR fashion brand is set to close a city centre store within weeks as it launches a big sale.
Superdry is pulling down the shutters of its store at the Union Square Shopping Centre in Aberdeen later this month.
A worker at the branch confirmed the last day of trading would be February 15.
Signs outside the store are advertising a 30% off sale and suggest the branch is relocating, .
Despite this, shoppers have still vented their frustrations after finding out the branch will close for good in days.
One, posting on Facebook, said: "Sad to see another good brand go."
Read more on Store Closures
Another commented: "More empty shops.. Aberdeen is dying just now."
Meanwhile, a third added: "Gutted about Superdry. Got a jacket from there that lasted me well."
It comes after Superdry closed a string of branches in 2024 following tough trading conditions.
The retailer, introduced to the masses by David Beckham, closed 12 stores over the first half of the year, taking its estate to 96 branches.
The fashion brand said last January it was looking at various "cost-saving options" after reports it was considering major restructuring.
This followed the firm saying its revenue had fallen by nearly a quarter to £219.8million in the six months to the end of October 2023.
Meanwhile, American retailer Hollister is set to close its only store in Aberdeen at the end of the month.
RETAIL SECTOR STRUGGLES
The retail sector has been hit hard in recent years due to a number of reasons, partly high inflation and people turning to online shopping.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) said more than 13,000 high street stores closed permanently in 2024.
The centre’s latest analysis found that 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, shut their doors for good over the calendar year - representing a 28% increase on 2023.
Of the 13,479 branches, 11,341 were independent while 2,138 stores were shut by larger chains..
Some major chains have taken big hits, including Carpetright and Ted Baker which both fell into administration in 2024.
This month, Quiz Clothing reportedly said it was set to call in administrators putting 60 stores at risk of closure.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
More pain is expected to come in 2025 too, with the CRR estimating around 17,350 stores will close across the year.
The CRR said it predicted a hike in the number of store closures due to the upcoming hike in employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and national minimum wage.
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.