All the iconic shops we’ve loved and lost in 2023 including Paperchase – and how you can still buy from them

THE high street has taken a battering this year with half a dozen chains shutting all of their bricks-and-mortar sites.

Familiar favourites collapsed into administration leaving empty shop fronts up and down the country.

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These include M&Co, Paperchase and popular discounter Wilko.

Many high street retailers have been struggling to get by over the past few years, especially following the Covid-19 pandemic.

More businesses have gone bust in England and Wales in recent months than since the 2009 financial crisis, according to Government figures.

Energy costs have risen and more shoppers than ever are choosing to order online rather than head into stores.

This has left some retailers grappling with budgets and leaving them no choice but to close some of their stores to cut costs.

While others have been forced to completely shut down the business and call in administrators.

This has resulted, in many cases, in the brand completely disappearing from the high street.

Although it’s not all bad news because some have since announced plans to make a comeback.

Here we round up all the retailers that have disappeared from the high street in 2023.

Wilko

Wilko tumbled into administration in August before a flurry of potential buyers expressed an interest.

But sadly, a buyer for the whole business couldn’t be found and it then announced that all 400 shops would close.

Wilko’s last remaining sites shut for good on Sunday, October 8.

A flurry of rivals bought a handful of stores.

Among those was Poundland, which purchased 71 Wilko stores.

The first of these reopened under the Poundland name in October, with more set to follow.

B&M also agreed to buy up to 51 locations in a £13million deal.

The full list of locations hasn’t been announced yet but they will reopen as B&M shops.

In September, administrators confirmed they had agreed the sale of the retailer’s brand name to The Range in a £5million deal.

As part of the agreement, which also includes Wilko’s intellectual property, 36 jobs were saved as the employees transferred over.

But then in a shock announcement CDS Superstores, which trades as The Range and Wilko, revealed that it will be relaunching the stores across Britain’s high streets too.

It said it will open a total of five sites before Christmas, but so far has only confirmed the locations of the first three.

That means you can now go into a Wilko store in Plymouth, Luton and Exeter, as they have already opened.

Paperchase

Fans of Paperchase were devastated when the retailer disappeared from the high street in April this year.

Over the years the brand developed a cult following from people who loved indulging in its brightly coloured quirky notebooks, diaries, cards and gift wrap.

But sadly the loyalty of shoppers could not keep the retail giant afloat and it fell into administration in February after failing to find a buyer.

This led to the closure of all of its 134 shops including concessions stands in Next and Selfridges, with 900 job losses.

Supermarket giant Tesco bought the rights to the brand and announced in early October that it would be returning just in time for Christmas.

At the end of the month, the brand made its comeback and landed in a total of 250 Tesco supermarkets.

The re-launch is branded as “Paperchase at Tesco” and is available to buy online now too.

Here is the full list of stores now stocking the range which includes familiar favourites.

Quality Save

The Quality Save brand will eventually be replaced by its new parent company, it was announced earlier this year.

It means the discount brand’s 21 shops are set to disappear from the high street forever after it was bought by Home Bargains.

It means some of the brand’s shops will have to shut to undergo refurbishment and a rebrand.

TJ Morris, owner of Home Bargains, previously told The Sun that it couldn’t confirm the exact dates for these changes “due to landlord negotiations”.

Quality Save was originally founded in 1974 by Bob Rudkin and in January all of its 21 stores were sold to TJ Morris.

In August, TJ Morris confirmed that the Stalybridge, Atherton, Chorley and Darwen stores would not take part in the rebrand and would instead close for good.

Quality Save’s stores in Chorley and Stalybridge were the first to pull the shutters down for the final time in October.

The shop in Cheadle has also now closed according to Google, while Chorlton is shutting at the end of December.

Two stores have already been converted to Home Bargains.

We rounded up the full list of Quality Save shops that will be reopening as Home Bargains sites.

M&Co

M&Co, previously called Mackay’s, fell into administration for the second time in two years in December 2022.

Administrators at Teneo put the bust business up for sale with an auction deadline for interested buyers.

M&Co’s brand and intellectual property were sold to Yours Clothing.

The chain’s 170 shops were not part of the deal though and all sites closed their doors in the first quarter of this year.

In May, Yours Clothing announced it was set to launch a brand-new M&Co website in June and plans for an app.

The new site launched with womenswear products, including curve and petite clothing, with new ranges to follow in the future.

It then also announced that it is planning to open 50 physical M&Co stores over the next two years in a surprise turnaround.

The stores were set to open in autumn but this has been delayed.

Cath Kidston

Popular chain Cath Kidston, which once boasted hundreds of shops around the world, closed the last of its stores for good in June.

It first collapsed into administration in April 2020 with the closure of 60 UK stores and the loss of 908 jobs but is still trading online and across four UK stores.

The brand was bought by Next after falling into administration again in March – but the sale didn’t include the physical shops.

Next bought the brand name, domain names and intellectual property for £8.5 million.

The four remaining standalone stores continued to trade alongside the website after the sale but closed during the summer.

The Cath Kidston website closed in June as well, and customers are now redirected to the Next website.

Famous for its pretty floral designs and quirky vintage-style homeware, Cath Kidston has been a part of the British high street since 1993.

Argos

Back in January, Argos announced it would be closing all of its stores in the Republic of Ireland in 2023.

In June the chain pulled down the shutters on 34 sites in the country, completely withdrawing from the Irish high street.

It blamed the move on the investment required to develop and modernise the Irish part of its business.

It added that the money would be better invested in other parts of its business.

Argos’ home delivery service closed to Irish shoppers on March 22, while click-and-collect remained available until the stores closed.

It has also shut the doors on several sites in the UK as well, including in Wales.

Argos, which is owned by Sainsbury’s has a plan to close 100 stores across the UK in 2023/24 and focus on expanding its presence in supermarkets.

Over recent years, many standalone UK Argos stores have closed and added inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets.

The chain now has around 400 locations in the UK.

Meanwhile, we reveal the 10 iconic shops lost from the high street you can still buy from including Debenhams and BHS.

Plus, thousands of shops will be closing for three days this Christmas.

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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk