A MAJOR charity shop chain has shut another four stores after closing 29 following a consultation.
Scope pulled down the shutters on branches in Rochdale, Nuneaton, Gillingham and Wednesbury yesterday (June 27).
AlamyScope closed four stores yesterdays[/caption]The four stores, as well as three others which Scope has closed, have been taken on by fellow charity A World UK CIC.
The three other shops transferring to A World UK CIC are in Dewsbury, Bridgwater and Scunthorpe.
It is not clear when the seven stores will reopen under A World UK.
Eight staff members from the stores will keep their jobs and move to working for the charity.
Brad Thorpe, managing director of A World UK, which supports the Autistic community, said: “We are excited about this transition and the opportunity it brings to expand our reach.
“Welcoming these seven Scope stores and eight dedicated employees means more than just growth.
“It’s a chance to strengthen and support the autistic community in even more areas across the UK.”
The latest announcement from Scope comes after the charity retailer shut 29 of its branches across the UK following a consultation.
This is on top of six sites which shut due to their leases ending. These are the 29 shops that closed in March, April and May:
Amersham Barking Bangor Birkenhead Bishop Auckland Castleford Devizes Dewsbury Eastbourne Haywards Heath Lewisham New Milton Orpington Parkstone Scunthorpe Shirley (Southampton) Skipton Workington Newport Southampton Atherstone Welling Blyth Hove, George Street Burton Erdington West Hampstead, London Exmouth BuryScope said last month a further 35 stores will shut as part of the consultation, bringing the total number of closures to 70.
Meanwhile, another five are set to close later this year, as well as potentially two more, bringing the total number of closures to 77.
The four stores that shut yesterday are included in this group of 77, meaning up to 38 more stores will close.
Scope first launched a consultation to look at reducing its store estate in January.
Like many other retailers, the charity has been struggling for footfall into high street stores.
However, despite its challenges on the high street, Scope’s online sales have boomed in recent years.
It saw online sales increase by 75% in 2023/24, up £1.2million on the year before.
HIGH STREET STRUGGLES
UK high streets have been in decline for years due to the onset of online shopping.
High inflation in recent years has chipped away at shoppers’ wallets and purses too.
The Centre for Retail Research said more than 13,000 high street stores shut in 2024, with more to come in 2025.
The centre’s analysis found that 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, shut their doors for good over the calendar year.
The charity sector specifically has been hit hard.
The Charity Retail Association, which represents charity retailers, said in a recent blog post its members were reporting “the worst time for trading they have ever encountered”.
A survey by the association found 36% were considering reducing the number of paid staff on their books and 27% were planning to close shops.
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 showed that more than half of companies planned to raise prices by early April.
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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