MAJOR high street brands are preparing to close some of their stores for good this week.
Retailers have been feeling the pinch since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on their spending due to soaring inflation.
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When prices are going up it squeezes households incomes, meaning that people have less money to spend.
This is bad news for shops, restaurants and pubs.
High energy costs and a shift to online shopping are also taking their toll and money high street shops have struggled to keep going.
Some well-known retailers are shutting a handful of branches, while others are set to disappear from the high street for good.
Below, we have listed all the stores closing this week – including M&CO, M&S and fashion giant New Look.
M&Co
M&Co will be bringing the shutters down on all of its 170 locations this year.
It comes after the brand fell into administration last year and administrators at Teneo put the bust business up for sale with an auction deadline for interested buyers.
M&Co’s brand and intellectual property was sold to Yours Clothing but the stores weren’t and are set to close.
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This week, the chain will close 38 of its stores for good.
The closures have been confirmed on each store’s Facebook page, as well as on Google – they are as follows:
- Alexandria – April 18
- Alnwick – April 22
- Alton – April 18
- Attleborough – April 18
- Bexhill – April 20
- Billericay – April 18
- Blandford Forum – April 22
- Brighouse – April 20
- Castle Douglas – April 20
- Chesham – April 22
- Christchurch – April 20
- Cleveleys – April 22
- Dunoon – April 18
- East Grinstead – April 22
- Elgin – April 20
- Exmouth – April 20
- Garstang – April 20
- Glenrothes – April 20
- Guisborough – April 18
- Haddington – April 22
- Helensburgh – April 20
- Henley on Thames – April 20
- Hitchin – April 23
- Inverurie – April 22
- Kirkintilloch – April 22
- Largs – April 22
- Milngavie – April 20
- Montrose – April 18
- Northallerton – April 22
- Oswestry – April 22
- Portishead – April 22
- Rickmansworth – April 21
- Romsey – April 18
- Saffron Walden – April 22
- St Neots – April 20
- Stroud – April 22
- Warminster – April 20
- Wokingham – April 23
New Look
Fashion retailer New Look will close one of its stores this week.
It comes after a string of closures earlier this year, which saw sites in Birmingham and Coventry shut forever.
The high street chain last closed 85 of its shops and laid off hundreds of staff back in 2018.
But now it has confirmed that its branch in Cheshunt will close on Wednesday (April 19).
A post on the store’s Instagram page read: “Sorry to inform you all but our store in Cheshunt will be closing shortly.
“Our last day will be on Wednesday, April 19. Your local stores will be in Enfield or Harlow.
“Sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
M&S
Marks and Spencer will pull down the shutters on another branch this week.
Its store in Castleford, West Yorkshire is closing on Saturday (April 22).
The retailer has already closed multiple branches, including in London and Edinburgh.
It comes as the company said it plans on closing 67 stores over the next five years.
However, the business also plans to open 104 new “bigger and fresher” food stores.
That includes 20 new stores across the UK this year, including in Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester.
Bank closures
Major banks are opting to close local branches as more people make the switch to digital and online banking.
There are 332 planned closures for 2023, according to data from UK cash machine network LINK.
If you are worried about your local bank branch closing, you’ve got some options.
You can always switch to a different bank or building society that has a branch closest to you.
Or, if you don’t want to switch, you can use one of the Post Office’s 11,635 branches to carry out the most basic banking tasks.
It’s worth contacting your bank if you’re struggling to get to your nearest branch to see if they offer such a service.
This week alone, 20 bank branches are set to close – and they are as follows:
Barclays
- Bishop Auckland – April 21
- Keswick – April 21
- Leeds – April 21
- London, Green Street – April 20
- London, Tower Bridge Road – April 19
- Milton Keynes – April 18
- Shenfield – April 19
- Warley – April 21
Halifax
- Bangor – April 17
- Chester Le Street – April 19
- London (EC3M) – April 19
HSBC
- Abergavenny – April 18
- Bexhill-On-Sea – April 18
- Blandford Forum – April 18
- Cromer – April 1
- St Austell – April 18
- St Ives – April 18
Lloyds
- Beckenham – April 20
- Norbury – April 19
- Pontefract – April 20
Nationwide
- Gloucestershire (Kingswood) – April 20
What other shops are closing?
Hundreds of shops have already closed for good this year, with dozens also marked to shut their doors.
Stationery giant Paperchase recently closed all its 106 stores after collapsing into administration.
Argos closed the doors on its Coatbridge branch in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
One of the UK’s biggest card retailers Clintons shut two stores for good last month.
While health and beauty retailer Boots also closed two shops last month.
B&Q shut eight “mini-shops” found inside Asda supermarkets in March too.
It’s not just retailers closing branches – Wetherspoon and Stonegate, which owns Slug and Lettuce and Be At One, are closing a number of boozers and restaurants this year.
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