A HIGH street bakery chain has abruptly closed a store after already shutting 170 branches.
Patisserie Valerie, which once had almost 200 stores across the UK employing around 3,000 staff, has closed another branch suddenly.
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Shoppers have spotted a sign on the door of the bakery chain’s branch in High Wycombe’s Eden Shopping Centre which reads: “This store is now closed!”
The site closed on Tuesday, January 2, according to local news reports.
The High Wycombe branch has also disappeared from Patisserie Valerie’s store locator tool and from the shopping centre’s website.
The Sun has contacted the retailer for comment.
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Shoppers have taken to social media to share their frustration at the closure.
One Facebook user said: “Shame I liked it in there.”
Another added: “Thoughts go out to all the ppl who worked there.”
A third wrote: “Sad. But it was very expensive.”
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And a fourth cried: “WHAT!”
And another customer wrote: “No bloody hope now.”
Patisserie Valerie collapsed into administration in 2019 after grappling with the fallout of accountancy fraud and immediately culled 71 of its 193 stores.
Since then, it has reduced its store count down to just 29, with restaurants only remaining in cities and some large towns.
It has concessions inside around 400 Sainsbury’s stores where customers can buy its 14 most popular cakes, according to its website.
It has restaurants in London, with several others in the South East including in Winchester and Basingstoke.
Further north, there are branches in York, Leeds, Chester and Durham.
But last year, The Sun exclusively revealed that the chain was set to open two new branches.
Patisserie Valerie joins a number of other retailers and eateries expanding into the UK at the moment.
Huge discount retailer Costco is planning to open 14 new warehouses around the UK in the next two years.
Bakery chain Greggs is also expanding with plans to open a net total of 150 branches last year.
It comes as other major names on the high street are being forced to shut branches.
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We have put together a full list of high street retailers and pub chains closing branches in January.
You can find your nearest Patisserie Valerie using the map tool on its website – the blue icons indicate a restaurant, while the orange icons show Sainsbury’s stores that sell its cakes.
You can also join our new Sun Money Facebook group to share stories and tips and engage with the consumer team and other group members.
