HUNDREDS of high street shops and restaurants have closed in the last few months, with seven more to close this week.
New Look, Homebase, Wetherspoons and WHSmith will all be pulling down the shutters on branches.
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It comes following a difficult time for businesses struggling to bounce back after Covid.
That combined with rising energy bills means its been a tricky period for retailers.
With costs high for shoppers too it means that people have been cutting back on non-essentials and prices continue to skyrocket.
There’s also been a steady transition over to online shopping for many consumers, meaning that brick and mortar shops have been struggling.
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The hospitality industry has also been suffering.
Food and pub chains have also closed the doors at several locations across the country, these include Greene King pubs and Prezzo restaurants.
Below is the full list of high street brands closing sites this week.
Marks and Spencer
The M&S store in Barnsley’s town centre, on Queens Street, is set to shut its doors in days.
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Shoppers will be able to visit the store for the final time tomorrow (Monday, November 27).
However, the very next day, a new M&S food hall is due to open in the local retail park.
But it’s not all bad news, because the popular chain is to open a new food branch at Peel Retail park on Tuesday (November 28).
Wetherspoons
The Foxley Hatch Wetherspoon in Purley will pull down its shutters for the final time on Sunday, December 3.
In a statement, the pub chain said: “We would like to thank all of the staff and customers at the Foxley Hatch who have made it such a wonderful pub.
“We appreciate our staff’s dedication and hard work and our customers’ loyalty.”
The chain – which has 827 pubs across the UK – warned last September that 32 pubs were being put up for sale.
Earlier this year, The Sun revealed that Wetherspoons had put 11 more pubs up for sale, leaving fans gutted that their local branch could be lost forever.
40 Wetherspoon pubs have shut their doors so far and you can see the full list of closures in our guide.
New Look
Clothing retailer New Look is shutting its shop in Shirley, Southampton, on Sunday, December 3, following a string of closures.
In October it closed its branch in Stratford-upon-Avon and in September another three branches closed for good.
Six New Look shops closed down across the UK in January and February.
However, it is not all bad news, the retailer recently opened stores in Grimsby and Leicester.
Homebase
Homebase will be closing one of its stores in Banbury, Oxford within days.
The store on Southam Road is set to close its doors for the final time on Sunday, December 3.
It is also set to close its branch in Plymouth on December 3.
Homebase was taken over by Hilco Capital in 2018 and has closed 93 stores since then.
It currently has 153 locations across the country.
Lacoste
Fashion brand Lacoste has 20 stores located across the UK.
However, it will close the doors for the final time on one of its branches before Christmas.
Its Leicester branch is located in the Highcross Shopping Centre in the town and will shut on Sunday, December 3.
The retailer displayed a notice in the shop window informing shoppers and thanking them for their loyalty.
WHSmith
WHSmith is all set to close its Market Street store in Manchester on Saturday, December, 2.
The retailer previously pulled the shutters down on two branches earlier in the year.
Its Bicester store closed on August 30 and prior to this, its Newcastle-under-Lyme branch shut permanently in March.
Meanwhile, it is also set to shut its branch in Ramsgate, Kent, at the start of 2024.
That’s just a handful of its 1,400 branches.
Earlier this year the retailer’s top boss said it had not plans to open new high street stores, but will focus on areas such as airports and railway stations.
What about store openings?
Despite the closures coming in December, it is not all bad news for shoppers are some retailers are expanding.
The Sun recently revealed discount retailer Costco is expanding in the UK and is planning to open 14 more warehouses over the next two years.
Bonmarche is opening at least seven new stores after filing for administration in 2019, while The White Company is also opening up new locations.
Once-huge bakery chain Patisserie Valerie, which also collapsed into administration and closed most of its stores, has started reopening branches, as revealed by the Sun.
We also recently revealed bakeries Wenzels, Greggs, Dunkin’ Donuts and The Cornish Bakery are all in the process of expanding in the UK.
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