THIS year has already seen hundreds of popular shops disappear from the high street, with over 30 set to close just this week.
Over the last few weeks major chains have announced closures, including Boots, Iceland and B&M.
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Food and pub chains have also been closing doors at several locations across the country, such as Wetherspoons pubs.
It comes following a tumultuous period for businesses struggling to bounce back after Covid and then to be hit with rising energy bills.
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 switch to online shopping for many consumers, meaning that brick and mortar shops have been struggling.
This has had the same affect on banks too, with customers turning to online and mobile banking, resulting in big lenders closing hundreds of sites.
Among the chains shutting up shops this week are New Look, Lloyds Pharmacy and Barclays.
Here is the full list of high street chains closing sites this week.
Boots
Boots is also set to start closing down the first of 300 stores this week.
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The popular pharmacy chain has confirmed the locations of nine stores which will be shutting their doors for good.
It comes as part of wider closure plans that will see the chain’s number of shops reduced from 2,200 to 1,900.
Boots has confirmed that all staff working in these locations will be offered alternative roles.
The two sites shutting in days are Heathside Road in Woking and the branch on the UEA campus.
Both are scheduled to shut at “the end of July”.
Iceland
Iceland will be closing another supermarket in the coming days.
The frozen food specialist has already shut more than half a dozen shops since February.
Right now, there are around 800 Iceland branches across the UK.
Its site in St David’s Place, Swansea will be pulling down the shutters on July 29.
It follows the closures of 11 Iceland supermarkets earlier this year, with more coming in the next few months.
Lloyds
Also closing branches this week is Lloyds, which will be pulling down the shutters on three locations.
The first is set to close tomorrow and is the Chapeltown site.
Only Tuesday, Lloyds will also shut its Holloway Road in London on July 25.
This will be followed by the Carlton branch on July 26.
Amazon Fresh
Amazon is set to close two stores today as it gears up to open two new locations.
The e-commerce giant is pulling down the shutters for good on its Ealing, Wandsworth and East Sheen branches today.
The company said it will open new Fresh stores in Moorgate and Liverpool Street, London, but did not confirm exactly when.
The Ealing store, which opened in March 2021, was Amazon’s first UK grocery store and spans 2,500sq ft.
Barclays
Huge banking provider Barclays is also set to shut five sites this week alone.
It comes after the bank has reported more than 60 branches will be leaving the high street over the rest of this year.
The bank has also already closed hundreds of locations, with 14 more announced just last week.
Both the Heathfield and Barnsley branches will be closing on July 26.
While its Portadown, Market Harborough and Kingsland High Street sites will also be shutting on July 28.
Asda
Asda, which has more than 600 branches across the country, is closing two Asda Living stores this summer.
Its branch in Island Green Retail Park, Wrexham, will close on July 31.
The Asda Living shop in Eastgate Retail Park, Bristol, is also set to close this summer, but an exact date has not yet been confirmed.
A spokesperson for the supermarket giant previously said that stores had been “running at a loss for a number of years”.
Asda Living stores sell a range of furniture, electronics, toys, homeware, and health and beauty products.
There are currently 33 of these stores across the UK, including in Maidstone, Lincoln and Leeds.
Natwest
NatWest will be pulling down the shutters on four branches just this week.
This is also following further closures and the announcement of sites shutting later this summer too.
These include Dorking and March which are both set to close on July 25.
Later this week its Peterborough site on July 26, while its Tamworth branch will be closing on July 27.
New Look
New Look is bringing the shutters down on more of its shops before the end of July.
The brand is shutting its store in Rhyl’s White Rose Centre on Tuesday, July 25, according to local news reports.
It comes after a post on the New Look Rhyl Facebook page announced a huge closing-down sale.
The fashion retailer has already closed several stores this year after it pulled down the shutters on 85 branches in 2018.
RBS
There will also be a Royal Bank of Scotland closure this week too.
The Scottish bank will be shutting up shop on its Tranet site onJuly 27.
Lloyds Pharmacy
Further Lloyds Pharmacy branches are set to close in the next few days, following a string of closures.
The sites shutting are both ones inside Sainsbury’s stores.
They are Sainsbury’s Oxford Road, Kidlington today (July 23) and Sainsbury’s St Ann Way, Gloucester on July 24.
Lloyds has already announced the closure of 237 of its pharmacies in Sainsbury’s supermarkets by the end of the year and closed 76 stores in 2022.
Habitat
Huge homeware brand Habitat is set to disappear from the high street by the end of the month when it closes its last three standalone stores.
Three branches in Brighton, Leeds and White City’s Westfield, London, will close permanently.
The retailer is yet to confirm the exact dates each of the three branches will close though.
Sainsbury’s, which owns the Habitat brand, has said it will look to redeploy all impacted shop staff within its own supermarkets or Argos stores.
HSBC
HSBC customers have also been turning more to online services in recent years.
As a result the chain is set to close dozens of branches, with more already shut for good this year.
On July 25, five HSBC locations will be closing for good: Christchurch, Seaford, Tonbridge, Blackwood (Wales) and Norwich.
Customers can still use one of the Post Office’s 11,635 branches to perform basic banking tasks — but not open new bank accounts or take personal loans and mortgages.
Bank of Scotland
The Bank of Scotland will also be among the high street chains shutting sites this week.
The sites bidding farewell are all located in Scotland.
They include the Bearsden branch on July 25 and Edinburgh on July 26.
Following this will be the Pollokshields location on July 27.
Meanwhile, another 44 banks are going to be shutting their doors later this year and into 2024.
Plus, here is the full list of shops closing stores this summer.
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