HIGH street retail is taking a hit and many shops are shutting stores as a result.
From Wetherspoon to various bank branches, it hasn’t been an easy year so far for some.
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Retailers are feeling the pinch due to high inflation, which was sitting at 10.5% in December.
Although that’s down from November’s rate of 10.7%, it’s still five times higher than the Bank of England’s target of two per cent.
So which shops, banks and pubs have been affected by soaring costs? We take a look below.
Paperchase
Although no store closures are officially confirmed for Paperchase, the company has started lining up administrators.
The business was in talks to secure a pre-pack administration deal.
That means stores are at risk currently.
However, recent reports suggest Tesco could save the stationery chain as hundreds of branches could collapse today.
A spokesperson for Paperchase said: “The directors of Aspen Phoenix NewCo, which trades as Paperchase, confirm that following interest from a number of parties during the sale process, no decision has yet been taken on the future of the company.
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“Paperchase stores and the website will continue to trade as normal during this period.
“We can’t comment further until the process has concluded.”
Wetherspoon
Punters will be displeased to hear Wetherspoon is putting 39 of its pubs up for sale after two already collapsed for good.
It comes as the pub chain saw like-for-like sales drop 1.1% in the five weeks to November 6, 2022, when compared with pre-pandemic trading in 2019.
However, the news doesn’t necessarily mean the branches will close yet – they’ll stay open until they are bought.
Of the pubs up for sale, 11 are in London, while others are based in major cities including Southampton and Derby.
You can see the full list in our guide.
H&M
H&M has started closing branches across the UK as high street retail struggles.
The clothing brand’s closures include branches in Burton and Maidenhead.
It’s also confirmed another two closures will happen in Hartlepool and Isle of Wight, but hasn’t yet set a date.
It is unclear whether these will be permanent or if jobs are at risk.
Banks
Digital and online banking has taken a firm lead in the industry, meaning many bank branches are set to close this year.
There are 266 planned closures for 2023 and a number have already pulled down their shutters this year.
HSBC is set to close 114 branches and NatWest will bring down the shutters on 52 branches.
Lloyds Bank will shut 23 outlets and Barclays will close 41.
TSB, Halifax, Santander and Nationwide are also affected by closures.
You can read the full list and locations in our guide.
Argos
Argos will be shutting all of its stores in the Republic of Ireland this year.
The chain has roughly 580 staff members in 34 stores across the country.
The closures will happen by June 24, but no other UK stores will be affected.
The company said it found that the investment required to develop and modernise the Irish part of its business was “not viable”.
You can read about where all the Argos branches in Ireland are in our guide.
Argos is owned by major supermarket Sainsbury’s.
It comes as Sainsbury’s announced recently that Lloyd’s Pharmacy is withdrawing its services from over 200 Sainsbury’s stores.
