A MAJOR charity shop chain is set to close seven stores starting in hours ahead of 35 more shutting for good.
Scope, which runs shops across England and Wales, is shuttering the seven branches between May 10 and May 31.
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This includes a store in Blyth which will shut tomorrow while another in Hove will close on May 17 and a third in Burton on May 23.
This is the full list of stores closing in the coming days:
- Blyth – May 10
- Hove, George Street – May 17
- Burton – May 23
- Erdington – May 24
- West Hampstead, London – May 24
- Exmouth – May 31
- Bury – May 31
The seven closures come after Scope shut 22 branches in March and April following a consultation process earlier this year.
Read more on Store Closures
This is on top of six sites which shut due to their leases ending separately from the consultation.
The four stores that closed in April as part of the consultation period were in Newport, Southampton, Atherstone and Welling.
Meanwhile, these are the 18 stores that closed in March as part of the consultation:
- Amersham
- Barking
- Bangor
- Birkenhead
- Bishop Auckland
- Castleford
- Devizes
- Dewsbury
- Eastbourne
- Haywards Heath
- Lewisham
- New Milton
- Orpington
- Parkstone
- Scunthorpe
- Shirley (Southampton)
- Skipton
- Workington
Scope said a further 35 branches will shut, on top of the May closures, bringing the total number of closures to 70.
It has also confirmed that another five shops are set to be shut later this year, with a possible further two as well. Bringing the total number of closures to 77.
The locations of these stores or their closure dates are yet to be revealed.
Debbie Boylen, head of retail at Scope, said: “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.
“We never take the decision to close our stores lightly.”
Scope first launched the consultation to close dozens of its stores in January due to declining footfall and spiralling costs.
Chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said the charity’s retail arm had made a “real contribution to raising vital income”, but that external factors had “made trading harder”.
He added: “This situation isn’t confined to Scope. All retailers have been hit with a greater shift to online shopping.
“And we are facing rising rents, soaring energy costs, increased staff costs, and the cost of living squeezing customers.”
Despite its challenges at high street branches, 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.
A recent report from PwC noted a “continued move away from the high street” by retailers in 2024 with shops outside of town and city centres seeing less closures and more openings.
It said this was being driven by both leisure outlets and larger retailers shifting from high streets to retail parks which offer shoppers “greater convenience”.
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.
Of these, around 11,340 independent shops were shut during the year – a 45.5% jump against 2023.
The centre estimates around 17,350 stores will shut in 2025 too, linking the rise to hike in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) and national minimum wage.
Since the start of the month, employers have had to pay NICs at a rate of 15%, up from 13.8%, starting from £5,000 instead of £9,100.
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.”