SHOPPERS have been left devastated as a high street retailer with more than 240 stores is set to close the “best branch”.
Toy retailer GAME is the latest to shut its business down in UK high streets amid Britain’s retail apocalypse.
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Loyal customers are bidding farewell to the GAME branch in Rhyl high street which is set to close in spring after facing a string of losses.
A spokesperson for Frasers Group said: “It is with regret that we announce GAME Rhyl will be closing in Spring.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff for their hard work and dedication.
“Where possible, we are committed to finding new roles within the Group for staff.”
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Hailed as the “best GAME branch”, the retail store has been a staple for customers looking to buy toys and video games.
Heartbroken customers are now devasted to learn about the shop closure – and are deeply worried about the “negative impact” it will create on other high street stores.
Unless a realistic plan is in place for economic growth in Rhyl, we will continue to see [store closures] happening every month
Joseph Hill
One such customer Joseph Hill wrote on Facebook: “Just found out this morning that Game on the High Street is closing.
“With content becoming more available digitally, this has had a negative impact on stores selling physical goods.”
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He said he worries about Rhyl’s high street amid the fresh wave of shop closures across the UK, fearing that the “domino effect” will impact the nearby stores as well.
“I worry about Rhyl’s High Street because each closure creates a domino effect,” he added.
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“Unless a realistic plan is in place for economic growth in Rhyl, we will continue to see this happening every month.”
A second shopper wrote: “Unfortunately it’s the same in every high street in towns and villages. It’s just a sign of the times.”
It comes after the video game retailer, owned by the Fraser Group, shut down seven more stores, last month.
This includes branches in Exeter, Witney and Huntingdon which welcomed its last customers in January.
Last year, three GAME branches closed in Plymouth, Cambridge and Newport, Wales.
However, the Newport branch reopened in a nearby Sports Direct unit just two days later.
In October, House of Fraser, also owned by the Frasers Group, confirmed it will close its branch in Lakeside Shopping Centre, Grays, in January next year.
It has closed three stores in 2023 already, including in Cardiff, Guildford and Birmingham.
Sports Direct, also run by the Frasers Group, has closed branches in Swindon, Coventry, Blackpool and Salisbury in recent months too.
But it’s not all bad news for the group, as it has also started opening new “concept stores” as it looks to shake up its portfolio.
The first one of this kind, featuring popular brands like Sports Direct and Game, opened in Norwich in September.
Two others have opened in Blackpool and Sheffield in recent months.
The Frasers Group also recently snapped up luxury clothing retailer Matches Fashion in a deal worth £52million.
Meanwhile, designer clothing chain Choice, bought by The Frasers Group last year, recently pulled the shutters down on its Bromley site but replaced it with Flannels.
Britain’s retail apocalypse
It comes as the cost of living crisis, high inflation and rising energy costs are forcing retailers to close down their outlets.
Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) found the UK had lost 6,000 stores over a five-year period.
Several brands have also collapsed and disappeared from our high streets forever, such as Wilko and Paperchase.
Stores including Next, Boots, The Entertainer, Iceland, Clarks and WHSmith have also suffered.
And Argos, Next, Jack Wills and Poundland have announced they will all shut selected branches forever this year.
In the latest blow, famous cosmetic group The Body Shop has admitted it is on the brink of closing some 200 stores across the UK as the retailer entered administration.
We have created a list of all the Body Shop stores that are at risk of shutting down.
British retailers saw the amount of goods they sold drop last month at its fastest rate in three years as under-pressure families shifted part of their Christmas shop to earlier in the year.
Sales volumes dipped by 3.2% in December, data from the Office for National Statistics suggests, down from a rise of 1.4% a month before.
Several big-name chains are pulling down the shutters for the final time this month.
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The trade association’s chief executive Helen Dickinson OBE blamed the closures on “crippling” business rates and the impact of coronavirus lockdowns.
