A MAP has revealed the locations of 39 stores that a major charity chop chain is set to close for good.
Disability charity Scope has singled out the stores for closure over the next few days.
The charity, which has shops in England and Wales, announced in January it would likely close 138 of its stores in a major blow to the high street.
Bosses said the chain had struggled with declining footfall and spiralling costs, including higher rents, energy bills and staff costs.
Chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said at the time: “As a result, and to ensure our funds are best focused upon our charitable purpose, we have let our teams know that we will be putting forward proposals to close some of our shops, in stages, over the next 18 months.”
It’s been confirmed that a total of 39 stores will close by Monday, March 31.
These are:
- Amersham
- Bangor
- Barking
- Beckenham
- Bexhill
- Bishop Auckland
- Bridgwater
- Castleford
- Christchurch
- Cambourne
- Devizes
- Dewsbury
- Eastbourne
- Ely
- Gillingham HS
- Halstead
- Haywards Heath
- Hertford
- Hinckley
- Kendal
- Lewisham
- Llandudno
- March
- Mitcham
- Morley
- New Milton
- Nuneaton
- Oadby
- Orpington
- Parkstone
- Petersfield
- Rochdale
- Scarborough
- Scunthorpe
- Shirley (Southampton)
- Skipton
- Stourbridge
- Wednesbury
- Welling
Another store that was set for closure in Pwllheli, northwest Wales, was saved.
However a further 31 shops are at risk of shutting for good between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
Another five shops are expected to shut when their leases come up for renewal or when there is a break.
Scope has already closed at least 22 underperforming shops, including its stores in Haywards Heath and Southampton.
What’s happening to the high street?
UK high streets have been declining for some time.
The equivalent of about 37 shops a day shut in 2024, according to analysis by the Centre for Retail Research.
A number of factors are at play, including shoppers turning more towards online stores and increased costs for businesses.
Shops are paying more for energy and rent, while business rates are also high.
At the same time, they’ve seen decreased footfall and shoppers spending less because of soaring inflation.
Numerous big high street chains have been closing stores this year.
New Look is ramping up a store closure programme ahead of April’s National Insurance hike.
Approximately a quarter of the retailer’s 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire.
Meanwhile fashion chain Select shut down 35 of its stores earlier this month.
Its remaining 48 stores had been set to close yesterday, but a mystery business stepped in to save them.
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.”
