SHUTTERS DOWN
Department store chain to shut last shop after 140 years as it’s wiped off high street due to Budget tax hikes
See what other well-known names have disappeared
ONE of Britain’s oldest department stores is shutting its last remaining shop after more than 140 years, blaming Budget tax and wage increases.
Beales, which first opened in Bournemouth in 1881, said trading at its branch in Poole’s Dolphin Centre will cease at the end of May.
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Retail industry bosses said the closure of the historic store “illustrates the devastating impact” of the rise in national insurance contributions and the higher minimum wage, which will come into force in April.
Beales chief executive Tony Brown told the Telegraph the business had become “unviable” as it prepared to shoulder further cost increases announced in Labour’s October Budget.
“This, coupled with the risks and uncertainty of further tax increases in the coming years, have left us no other option,” he said.
“We have been working with the Dolphin Centre, who have been supportive, along with our investors to ensure an orderly exit.
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“Our team has been informed, as have our suppliers. We will ensure the exit is managed and no one will be left with a financial loss.”
The retailer has also come under pressure from shifting shopping habits in recent years, with younger shoppers turning away from large high street stores towards online rivals.
In January 2020, Beales tumbled into administration, leading to the closure of 22 of its 23 shops.
The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) warned that the latest closure could be the first of many as retailers struggle with mounting costs.
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Commercial director Jeff Moody said: “We are deeply saddened to learn of Beales’ closure.
“This is not just the loss of another shop – it represents the end of a retail institution that has served communities for nearly one-and-a-half centuries.
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“This closure starkly illustrates the devastating impact that recent tax increases are having on our retail sector.”
Founded in 1881, Beales operated 41 department stores in market towns across the UK at its peak, selling a range of furniture, fashion, toys and cosmetics.
Beales shut its store in Southport last September just three years after the site reopened.
Hundreds of devastated shoppers left comments on the department store's social media post, expressing their disappointment over the loss of another iconic branch.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April 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.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025."
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
"By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
It left just the Poole store remaining.
Now with its imminent departure, it's another name that will disappear forever from the high street.
Other businesses have warned of price rises and closures as a result of the Budget tax hikes.
Wetherspoons hiked prices last week by up to 30p on some food and drink after warning of the increases last winter.
Shoezone said it will close a number of its 297 shops that are "unviable" following the Budget.
The retailer added: "These additional costs have resulted in the planned closure of a number of stores that have now become unviable."
The shoe chain did not say exactly how many branches will close or where they are located.
New Look is understood to be speeding up planned closures of nearly 100 stores - around a quarter of its 364 stores.
Meanwhile Next and M&S have warned prices will go up, with the former turning to self-checkout technology in a bid to keep costs down.
FAMOUS NAMES GONE FROM THE HIGH STREET
It's not the only brand that's been wiped from the high street in recent years.
Ted Baker, fell into administration last March after years of turmoil.
At the time it had 46 shops in the UK employing around 975 people.
The last stores shut in August after failing to secure a full rescue.
It was relaunched as an online brand in the UK and Europe after a partnership with United Legwear & Apparel Co.
Flooring retailer Carpetright filed for administration in July after efforts to turnaround the struggling firm were derailed by a cyber attack.
The business had 1,800 staff and 273 shops across the country before going bust.
Around 54 stores were snapped up by its arch rival Tapi Carpets & Floors, which also bought its brand name and continues to run the brand online.
LloydsPharmacy, once the UK’s second biggest community pharmacy chain, went into liquidation in late January 2024 with debts of £293million.
The previous year it had closed all of its pharmacies inside Sainsbury’s and divided its 1,000 pharmacy estate into packages of hundreds of stores that it then sold to rivals in smaller deals.
There are no more LloydsPharmacy-branded sites on the high street, but it continues to operate online.
Fans of Paperchase were devastated when the retailer disappeared from the high street in April 2023.
Its 134 shops all closed after it fell into administration, including its concession stands in Next and Selfridges.
However, supermarket giant Tesco bought the rights to the brand and the brand is now stocked at 250 Tesco supermarkets.
M&Co, previously called Mackay’s, fell into administration for the second time in two years in December 2022.
M&Co's brand and intellectual property were sold to Yours Clothing.
The chain's 170 shops were not part of the deal though and all sites closed their doors at the start of 2024.
Popular chain Cath Kidston, which once boasted hundreds of shops around the world, closed the last of its stores for good in June 2023.
The brand was bought by Next after falling into administration in the March - but the sale didn't include the physical shops and remaining sotres closed that summer.
You can buy Cath Kidstone products on the Next website
Topshop disappeared after falling into administration during the pandemic.
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The brand was bought by Asos and is now sold online.
The ecommerce giant has teased a return to bricks and mortar though.
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