A LEGENDARY 120-year-old bakery is set to return to high streets after closing all its stores.
Family-run Oddie’s, based in Nelson, Lancashire, closed all its 13 branches in January and let 100 workers go.
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But the chain will now reopen seven locations after being rescued by Waterfields bakers, BBC reports.
Oddie’s locations in Nelson and Colne, as well as five shops in Burnley are set to pull up their shutters within weeks.
Waterfields said it was aiming for the seven sites to be open by early April.
Scott Davies, of Waterfields, founded in Leigh, Greater Manchester 100 years ago, said: “Our priority is keeping these local bakeries alive and thriving.
“We understand how important Oddies is to the community.”
Baked goods fans have shared their joy after finding out the chain is making a return to the high street.
Posting on Facebook, one said: “Fantastic news.”
Another added: “At least we will have some decent pork pies back in Nelson.”
A third commented: “Awww that’s great.”
Oddie’s was established in 1905 and is renowned for its traditional bread, savoury pastries and sweet treats.
But in recent years it had struggled due to soaring energy costs as well as a sharp fall in high-street footfall.
Last month, its owner Lara Oddie said despite the chain’s collapse, she was hopeful seven of its 13 shops would make a return.
She said: “If negotiations go well and certain recipes change hands, you might see your particular favourite make a reappearance.”
She also spoke of her struggles trying to keep the business afloat and looking for a new owner.
“I worked behind the scenes really hard all last year on a deal and literally three weeks before it was meant to happen, the guy pulled out, which left me with very few options and fewer resources.
“But, since the announcements have been made more public, other people have come out of the woodwork.
“So, I am still negotiating with interested parties behind the scenes and I’ve got everything crossed that maybe seven of my shops would reopen shortly.”
Chains returning to high street
Oddie’s is not the only chain to confirm a return in recent years.
M&Co opened a new store in May last year after collapsing into administration in 2022 and closing all its branches.
Classic record chain Our Price officially relaunched online last April after disappearing 20 years before.
Meanwhile, Cath Kidston opened its first new store in October after going bust, The Sun exclusively revealed.
Wilko made an iconic return to the high street last year too.
Toys R Us is also among those who’ve managed to make a comeback.
The popular toy brand opened up nine new shops in 2023 after vanishing from the high street in 2018.
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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