A FASHION retailer bought by House of Fraser’s owner is set to reopen after a huge closing down sale.
Designer clothing chain Choice has pulled the shutters down on one of its stores in Bromley.
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The Choice chain was bought in 2022 by the Frasers Group, along with 14 other brands including Tessuti, Watch Shop and Missy Empire.
Choice stores specialise in women’s and men’s designer clothing, accessories and footwear.
The branch in Bromley closed within the last few weeks after hosting a closing down sale for weeks prior.
Now the shop, in The Glades Shopping Centre, has signs in the window sporting the news that the store will be transformed into a Flannels.
No exact date has been given yet for the reopening.
There are just five shops in Choice stores chain, including three others in Westfield Stratford, Romford and Bluewater.
Another site in Lakeside shopping centre also pulled down its shutters back in August.
It too has hinted at reopening soon as a Flannels store.
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It’s understood that all Choice stores will eventually be closed and reopened as Flannels shops.
The Sun has contacted the Frasers Group regarding the reopenings but it declined to comment.
Choice was founded by Laurence Davis in 1993, opening its first menswear store in Romford, before expanding across the south east of England.
Another brand which was bought by the Frasers Group, Tessuti, has also closed several stores in the past year.
The most recent closure is the site in Burnley which has also been announced to be reopening as a Flannels too.
Flannels sells multiple different brands in its stores, including a selection of designer apparel, accessories, and footwear.
It too was bought by Mike Ashley‘s Frasers Group in 2017 and has been running since 1976.
The chain now has more than 75 stores across the UK, including its Flannels junior shops.
The news comes after House of Fraser shop in Solihull also closed in August after selling all stock at 20% off.
Its branch in Guildford will shut on Saturday, September 30, the chain confirmed.
Plus, Sports Direct, also owned by Frasers Group, will be pulling down the shutters on its branch in Blackpool in months.
Other high street closures
The high street has been hit hard in recent years due to the growth of online shopping, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the same time the cost of living has been rising, leading to shoppers cutting back on non-essential spending.
Brick and mortar stores have also seen a lack of footfall due to consumer habits switching to online shopping.
Beloved discounter Wilko is to close all of its stores by October – with thousands of workers set for redundancy – after it collapsed into administration.
Familiar brands like M&Co and Paperchase also went under closing all of their UK shops earlier this year.
Shoezone is also set to pull the shutters down on one of its stores in its latest round of closures.
It’s not just fashion retailers shutting either, food and drinks chains have all been affected.
Wetherspoons is also pulling the plug on some of its pubs over the next few weeks.
It comes after the chain – which has 827 pubs across the UK – warned last September that 32 pubs were being put up for sale.
Costa Coffee has also shut seven sites so far in the last few months.
The owner of Frankie and Benny’s says it expects to save £5million a year by closing 40 of its loss-making restaurants.
Although, some chains have managed to defy high street troubles and are actually set to open new shops.
These include discount chains like Poundland which is set to open 15 shops in the coming weeks and Greggs which is aiming to open 150 new sites this year.
Meanwhile, we’ve also rounded up all the high street chains closing sites in September.
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