MAJOR high street retailers, supermarkets and chain restaurants are closing more of their branches within weeks.
Iceland, Wetherspoons, Wilko and Boots are among the major brands set to shut shops in October.
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Some stores will be replaced with brand new shops while others will disappear from the high street forever.
The cost of living crisis, soaring inflation and high energy costs are taking their toll on retailers.
Shoppers have been cutting back spending, while the cost of actually running a store has also increased, meaning some outlets have struggled to keep going.
Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) this summer found the UK had lost 6,000 stores over a five-year period.
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Here’s a full list of some well-known shops and outlets that will be shutting branches this summer.
Boots
Boots is set to close several more stores this month as part of its plan to shut 300 shops over the next year.
The pharmacy chain will be closing the following branches this month:
- Windhill Road, Wakefield – October 6
- Upper Warrengate, Wakefield – October 7
- Glastonbury – October 13
- Uppingham Road, Leicester – October 13
- Guildford Road, Woking – end of October
- Kings Square, York – October 28
- Warminster – October 28
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Further stores will then close in November, with the retailer looking to massively consolidate its portfolio of UK outlets from 2,200 to 1,900 in the coming months.
Farmfoods
Farmfoods is closing its supermarket in Tranent, East Lothian for good at the end of this month.
Shoppers in the local area were left gutted when it revealed the news, sharing fears it would leave the area “a ghost town”.
One regular shopper said: “Why shut Farmfoods? The elderly people of Tranent use this daily. Not good for Tranent.”
Iceland
Bargain supermarket Iceland is set to close two more branches by the end of October.
It has already shuttered 17 stores this year including in Crewe and Birkenhead.
Its store on Trinity Street in Huddersfield will close on October 28, while its Fulford Road branch in York will also shut for good at 4pm on the same day.
Sports Direct
Popular sportswear retailer Sports Direct is set to close its Coventry store later in October.
The Central Six Retail Park branch will close this month, although an exact date has not yet been confirmed.
Sports Direct is part of The Frasers Group, which has been opening new stores over the last few weeks.
It opened its newest outlet earlier this month in the Chantry Place shopping centre in Norwich.
Wetherspoons
Beloved pub chain Wetherspoons has made a raft of closures this year in a devastating blow for fans.
The Moon and Bell in Loughborough closed its doors for the last time today, with fans saying they’ve lost “the best Wetherspoons in Leicestershire”.
The chain currently has 27 pubs up for sale, with ten under offer and 17 still up for grabs.
Wilko
Homeware giant Wilko collapsed into administration in August, and now all 400 of its stores will close by October 8.
However, it’s not all bad news as a flurry of buyers snapped up stores including Poundland and B&M.
Among those was discount chain Poundland, which purchased 71 stores.
It reopened ten former Wilko stores under the Poundland brand on Saturday 30 September.
While a raft of stores are set to close, shoppers have reason to be cheerful as other retailers are actually expanding this year.
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 due to open new stores in October and November.
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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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