A MAJOR charity shop chain is set to close three more of its stores starting from tomorrow.
Disability charity Scope has confirmed its stores in Taunton, Bromley and Portsmouth are all closing this month.
AlamyScope has had to shut down dozens of stores due to spiralling costs and lower footfall[/caption]The charity previously announced it was considering shutting 77 of its 138 shops across the country.
Its bosses said it had to make the difficult decision because of spiralling costs and fewer shoppers heading to the high street.
The Taunton store is first to close and will be shutting its doors for good tomorrow.
Shoppers responded to the news on Facebook, with one saying: “Oh, no – I’ve got lots of great bits from there.”
Another wrote: “Oh no really? That a, really good charity shop aswell.”
The store in Bromley closes on June 14 while the Portsmouth one is going on June 21.
It means shoppers only have days left to grab final bargains from the stores.
Debbie Boylen, head of retail at Scope, said: “Our shops have helped us raise vital income to support our work with disabled people and their families.
“We know our teams put in their very best efforts, but our shops are collectively now losing money when taking account of all of their costs.
“A number make strong profits but there are loss making shops too.”
She said the charity had consulted on the proposals to shut 77 shops and had come to the “sad” decision about the Taunton, Bromley and Portsmouth stores.
Boylen added: “We’ve had such incredible support from these wonderful and generous communities. We never take the decision to close our stores lightly.
“We recognise for our colleagues and volunteers, it’s more than just a job.
“We know they feel passionately about playing their part in our work, creating an equal future with disabled people.
“We will be doing everything we can to support them and our decision does not reflect their hard work and dedication to Scope.”
The news comes after Scope already shut 35 of its shops this year.
It closed 11 stores between the end of March and the end of May.
Full list of Scope closures in 2025
Closed before the end of the consultation in early March:
Bexhill Hertford Mitcham Petersfield Scarborough WorthingClosed by March 31:
Amersham Barking Bangor Birkenhead Bishop Auckland Castleford Devizes Dewsbury Eastbourne Haywards Heath Lewisham New Milton Orpington Parkstone Scunthorpe Shirley (Southampton) Skipton WorkingtonClosed by May 31:
Blyth Hove George Burton Erdington West Hampstead Exmouth Bury Newport Southampton (Portswood Road) Atherstone WellingWhat’s happening at Scope?
The charity is among scores of big chains facing trouble on the high street.
Chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said previously that its high street stores had been hit by shoppers increasingly turning to online shopping.
On top of that, it has faced rising rents, soaring energy costs, increased staff costs, and lower customer spends.
In its annual report for the year to March 2023, Scope said it had made £24million from trading activities, including shops and online sales, up from £23.6million the year before.
In the same year it had spent £24.7million maintaining and operating its shops, £1million more than the previous year.
Hodgkinson said Scope’s shops had made a “real contribution to raising vital income” but external factors had “made trading harder”.
Scope wants to make sure its funds are not taken away from its charitable purpose, the boss said.
The store closures have led to a number of job losses and also impacted volunteers.
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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