A FASHION giant with 458 stores is closing a shop in one location within hours.
Next is bringing down the shutters on a store in Worcestershire after already shutting 12 mainline stores in recent months.
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The store located in Malvern Retail Park is due to close its doors for good at the end of today (May 1).
The store has previously been described by shoppers as “a great place in a convenient location with easy parking”.
Another said: “The manager and her assistant are so helpful.”
“It’s so rare to have a good shopping experience these days, but this store always makes my day,” said another.
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Next now has eight fewer shops than in January 2023 after closing 12 mainline stores.
A store closed in Ipswitch in February as well as one in Derry.
Before that, Next’s site in Hatfield in Hertfordshire closed on January 13.
Another shop in Newcastle closed in the last year.
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But it’s not all bad news for shoppers, as Next opened four new outlet stores during the same period.
Next Outlets are not like normal Next stores.
They feature a selection of outlet products, past season collections and clearance items at discounted prices you won’t find anywhere else.
It comes as the fashion and homewares chain posted a 5.7% increase in full-price sales for the 13 weeks to April 27, ahead of its guidance for 5% growth.
But Next said that, despite the higher-than-forecast sales, it still expects early summer trading to slip after a warm weather boost last year.
Next reported a 5% increase in underlying pre-tax profits to £918million for the year to January.
The firm said at the time that it would be cutting prices for customers by 2% thanks to lower buying costs for clothing and goods, with price tags set to fall by another 0.5% in the second half of its 2024-25 financial year.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
The high street has seen a whole raft of closures over the past year, and more are coming.
The number of jobs lost in British retail dropped last year, but 120,000 people still lost their employment, figures have suggested.
Figures from the Centre for Retail Research revealed that 10,494 shops closed for the last time during 2023, and 119,405 jobs were lost in the sector.
It was fewer shops than had been lost for several years, and a reduction from 151,641 jobs lost in 2022.
The centre’s director, Professor Joshua Bamfield, said the improvement is “less bad” than good.
Although there were some big-name losses from the high street, including Wilko, many large companies had already gone bust before 2022, the centre said, such as Topshop owner Arcadia, Jessops and Debenhams.
“The cost-of-living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend,” Prof Bamfield said.
“Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult.”
Alongside Wilko, which employed around 12,000 people when it collapsed, 2023’s biggest failures included Paperchase, Cath Kidston, Planet Organic and Tile Giant.
The Centre for Retail Research said most stores were closed because companies were trying to reorganise and cut costs rather than the business failing.
However, experts have warned there will likely be more failures this year as consumers keep their belts tight and borrowing costs soar for businesses.
The Body Shop and Ted Baker are the biggest names to have already collapsed into administration this year.
IT’S NOT ALL BAD NEWS
Lidl is set to open hundreds of new stores across the UK.
Aldi has announced that it will open 35 new UK stores.
The openings form part of Aldi‘s long-term target of 1,500 stores in the UK.
The supermarket is set to invest £550million in expanding its UK footprint this year alone.
Aldi said that each new store opening will create around 40 new jobs on average.
Asda has been opening hundreds of convenience stores in recent months as it looks to rival major players Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
B&M plans to open “not less than” 45 brand new stores across the UK in each of the next two consecutive years.
The parent company of Bonmarché, Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) and Peacocks, Purepay Retail Limited, has said it wants to open 100 new high street stores over the next 18 months.
It has yet to give the exact locations where it will open the 100 stores or when they will open.
One of the UK’s favourite bakery chains, Greggs, has exclusively revealed to The Sun plans to open more outlet branches by the end of 2025.
Home Bargains, which was running just under 600 branches as of last June, has said it wants to “eventually have between 800 and 1,000 retail outlets open”.
The major discounter has stopped short of saying when it wants to reach the 1,000 store target, however.
Primark is also opening new branches and investing and renovating more than a dozen of its existing shops.
Screwfix is set to open 40 new stores nationwide as its owner, Kingfisher, seeks to expand the DIY brand’s national presence.
The brand opened two new stores in March, and a further three new shops will open this month.
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Tesco has revealed plans to open 70 more stores across the UK over the next year as part of major expansion plans.
WHSmith has turned its focus to the travel side of its business, with plans to open new sites in airports, railway stations and hospitals.
