A POPULAR shoe chain is set to close another branch in weeks as it continues to withdraw from the High Street.
A.G. Meek will shut its shop in Albany Road, Cardiff on June 14.
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In an emotional post, the family-run business told its customers that it is reorganising the company.
It said: “Following the huge changes that have happened in high street retail since the pandemic and the challenges of the latest budget AG Meek is re-organising our business to focus on our largest turnover shops and our website.
“Closing our Albany Rd shop has been a very difficult decision as this was where Albert George Meek started the business in 1912 shortly before he went off to fight in the 1st World War.”
It added that it hopes customers in Cardiff will continue to shop at its stores in St David’s Centre and Cwmbran.
Read more on store closures
The store has launched a closing down sale and shoppers can get 50% off winter boots and 15% off all other items.
The closure means the chain has just three remaining sites, all of which are in Wales.
Shoppers have taken to social media to voice their disappointment at the announcement.
One shopper said: “Very sad news for the area.”
Another agreed, adding: “Sorry to hear about the closure.”
The chain has said that changes in the last Budget have been a factor in its decision to close stores.
Higher National Insurance Contributions and a decrease in business rate relief have piled pressure onto businesses at a time when they are already struggling.
From last month the rate of National Insurance that employers must pay rose from 13.8% to 15%.
Meanwhile, the threshold at which it is paid was lowered from £9,100 to £5,000.
An existing discount on retail business rates was also cut from 75% to 40%.
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.
As a result, the chain was forced to shut a branch on Eastgate Street, Gloucester last month.
Which other shops are shutting?
Several major shops are also set to close stores in the coming weeks.
Among them is WHSmith, which will shut its Oldham branch in Greater Manchester on May 3.
Its shop in Stockton, County Durham, will close on May 17, meanwhile the branch in the Frenchgate Centre in Doncaster will close on May 31.
The closures come after the retailer sold off almost 500 of its high street shops after being taken over by Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital.
The WHSmith name is set to disappear from the high street completely, with the brand instead focusing on its shops and travel hubs.
The Entertainer also closed its store in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, for good on May 3.
Keith Stenhouse, head of region at The Entertainer, said the chain is looking at shutting standalone stores that are “no longer profitable”.
He added: “We are sad to be closing our Barrow in Furness store as of 3rd May and would like to thank our customers and staff for their loyalty and support.
“We’re proud of the service we’ve offered and are committed to supporting our employees through this situation.”
Poundland has also said it has faced slowing sales, with its profits falling by £641million late last year.
It has been forced to close a series of stores and its parent company Pepco has been looking at a potential sale of the business.
Its store in Liverpool’s Belle Vale Shopping Centre is set to shut on May 6.
A spokesperson for Poundland said the store had been served notice on its lease.
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