A HOST of major retailers are set to shut stores this week, in another blow for the high street.
Brands including Next and Poundland are all set to call time on branches across the UK.
GettyA number of branches are set to close across the UK[/caption]It comes amid a tricky period for the retail sector, with consumers having less cash in their wallet to spend at the tills.
Hikes to National Insurance contributions, imposed in April, have also added to business costs.
Below we share all the stores closing this week.
POUNDLAND
The bargain retailer closed a brand in Ipswich yesterday, and intends to shutter another store in Brackla before the end of the week.
The site will close on May 24, giving shoppers until Saturday to say their goodbyes.
It has come as a blow to shoppers who in the past described it as “excellent”.
But it is not all bad news as The Sun has been told the branch will be consolidating with another Poundland site that is 500 yards away.
Poundland will also close a branch on Chiswick High Road on May 28.
The impending closures come after it was revealed that Poundland could be sold for just £1, and up to 200 stores could close as part of the process.
Gordon Brothers, the ex-owner of Laura Ashley, is reportedly in the lead to takeover the bargain chain.
The bargain chain will publish its half year results this coming Thursday, with an update on the process expected then.
But market sources told The Sun an update on the final sale could come at a later date.
NEXT
The fashion giant will close its branch in Darlington Retail Park on May 24.
It draws a line under a near four-year stint at the retail park, having first opened in 2021.
The brand had warned of potential store closures last year after losing a landmark legal case over equal pay.
Then in January the retailer told shoppers it may have to increase prices following the chancellor’s hike to employer National Insurance Contributions.
While, the store in the North East retail park is closing, Next’s standard format store in Darlington at the Cornmill Centre will remain open.
SIMMGLE
The children retailer known for its coloured pens and stationary is closing two branches before the end of the week.
The first branch in Eastgate Shopping Centre store in Inverness. will close today, May 21.
Meanwhile, it’s Darwin Centre branch in Shrewsbury will close just days later on Sunday, May 25.
Both sites have launched massive closing down sales, with up to 70% off everything in store — and shoppers are snapping up discounted lunchboxes, backpacks, water bottles and more while they still can.
WETHERSPOONS
The budget boozer will close the Spon Gate in Coventry on May 25.
Once The Spon Gate shuts, it will leave punters with just two other Wetherspoons pubs in Coventry.
A spokesperson for Wetherspoons said: “It is a commercial decision taken by Wetherspoon.
“We thank all our staff and customers over the years.”
SCOPE
Scope, which runs shops across England and Wales, has plans to shutter three this week.
This include the following stores:
Burton – May 23 Erdington – May 24 West Hampstead, London – May 24The charity store already closed two stores earlier this month, and plans to close a further stores in Exmouth and Bury on May 31.
The seven closures come after Scope shut 22 branches in March and April following a consultation process earlier this year.
BEALS
Beales, one of Britain’s oldest department stores, has launched a closing down sale before it shuts its last remaining shop after more than 140 years.
The company will shut its branch in Poole’s Dolphin Centre on May 31.
The sale includes fashion, furniture, gifts and cosmetics, being sold for up to 70% off.
WH SMITH
The troubled stationery retailer is closing a branch in West Mall, Frenchgate Centre Doncaster on May 31.
It had been a long-standing part of Doncaster’s high street, having opened when the Frenchgate was first built in 1968.
It comes after the the 232-year-old British business agreed to sell 500 shops in a £76million deal.
Retail investor Modella Capital snapped up the portfolio, with the stores eventually set to rebranded as TGJones.
Around 5,000 people are employed across the high street shops.
WHSmith has over 580 travel stores across airports, hospitals, railway stations and motorway service areas which will continue to live on.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
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.”
Professor Bamfield has also 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.”
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