Popular homeware & gift shop confirms it will close ALL locations in just days & launches its ‘biggest sale ever’
A BELOVED homeware and gift shop is closing all of its stores and has already launched its "biggest sale ever".
Known for "fun, creativity and adventures" the in-store and online shopping experience has been set to end this month.
The Lincolnshire art business will roll its shutters down for the final time after more than a decade serving the high-street.
Katie Cardew Illustrations has already closed its Lincoln store shut and is preparing to close its other sites in Stamford and Oakham.
A "huge sale" has already commenced to help shift the remaining stock.
Those who have had their eye on a particular design should act fast before it disappears.
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Company director Emma Marsh plans to spend time with family and to travel.
While founder and illustrator Katie Cardew has set her sites on her interior design business.
The group announced the closure on their Instagram account with both Katie and Emma featuring in a video.
Shared alongside the footage: "KATIE CARDEW IS CLOSING - Some HUGE news... After 11 amazing years, the time has come for us to say goodbye to Katie Cardew Illustrations."
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Describing their "wonderful customers" and "amazing team" the business owners said it was the "right time" to move away from the brand.
The closure notice also revealed the store has launched its "last sale ever" to finish on a "high note".
They added: "We'd love to see as many of you as possible to celebrate the end of this incredible era and to pick up a little memento of the Katie Cardew designs.
"Thank you for everything, it's been a wonderful time."
It comes after a high street brand with 60 sites announced it was shutting for good.
Colleagues at the Card Zone in North Lincolnshire confirmed the site's closure in April.
Meanwhile, Homebase is set to shut 33 stores this month after falling into administration.
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.
