A HIGH street giant with 1,400 branches has launched a massive closing down sale at a store that’s due to cease trading in weeks.
WHSmith has a huge sale as it looks to pull the shutters down in one Manchester store for good before the end of the year.
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The bookshop and stationery retailer will close its store on Manchester’s Market Street on Saturday, December 2, according to The Manc.
A sign on the window of the store reads: “Unfortunately this store will cease trading on December 2, 2023.
“We would like to thank you for your custom.”
It then informs that the closest WHSmith to Manchester now will be at the Trafford Centre.
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At the moment shoppers can get 50% off everything in-store thanks to its “everything must go” sale.
WHSmith has already closed two branches this year, including in Bicester on August 30.
Its Newcastle-under-Lyme branch shut permanently in March too, the Stoke Sentinel reported.
Meanwhile, the retailer is set to shut its branch in Ramsgate, Kent, at the start of 2024.
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WHSmith is also set to pull down the shutters on its shop in Alfreton, Derbyshire, in January 2024.
It hasn’t said why it has taken the decision to shut these shops.
WHSmith has 600 stores on the high street, along with more than 800 travel stores located in airports, train stations, hospitals, workplaces and motorway services.
In June, WHSmith’s boss Carl Cowling said it had no plans to open any more UK high street stores.
Instead, it is focusing its efforts on UK airports and train stations, as well as looking to expand in the US and Europe, he said.
In 2018 and 2019 consumer group Which? ranked WHSmith among the UK’s worst high street retailers after some customers complained about poor customer service, bad value for money and the dire state of its stores.
Over the past 20 years, the retailer has significantly expanded its presence in airports and train stations.
It has also increased its offering at motorway service stations and US-based casino resorts.
Retailers have been feeling the pinch since the pandemic while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to soaring inflation.
High energy costs and a shift to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
Brands like Frasers have been moving and relocating profitable stores and brands within department stores but other brands have been shutting stores for good.
The inability to renegotiate rents and agreements with landlords is also putting pressure on some retailers to pull out of some locations.
A number of well-known retailers including Argos, Lloyds Pharmacy and Poundstretcher have closed stores in recent months.
But others have been hit so hard they’ve been left on the brink of administration.
However, some big brands are expanding the number of stores they operate.
Poundland has recently opened dozens of new stores.
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These openings form part of the retailer’s plans to bring the shutters up on 50 new stores by the end of the year.
B&M is also opening more than a dozen new branches across the UK by the end of 2023.
