‘The town is dying in front of us all’ cry shoppers as electrical goods brand with 300 shops to shut store in weeks

A MAJOR electrical goods brand with more than 300 locations is set to shut a store in just weeks.

Currys will pull the shutters down for the final time on its Weymouth store on Friday, March 1.

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A spokesperson for Currys said: “We can confirm that our Weymouth store will be closing on March 1 as the lease comes to an end.

“Colleagues impacted have been made aware of this decision and will be redeployed to local stores such as Dorchester or Poole if they wish.

“We will also support them if they choose to move to another business.”

The statement went on to say that the nearest stores for Weymouth customers will be either Dorchester or Poole.

Locals have been taking to social media to express their sadness at the loss of the store.

One person said: “That’s awful. This town is dying in front of us all.”

Another commented: “That’s a shame.”

While a third person said: “What is going on with this town?”

Currys has over 300 stores in the UK, it also operates online and across 8 countries with 823 stores in total.

Many retail chains are set to close down branches in 2024 and some left the high street altogether in 2023.

Rising costs and a lack of customers through the door have made it difficult for even the largest retailers to survive.

Possibly the biggest shock of last year was the collapse of popular discount chain Wilko.

It disappeared from the high street after failing to find a buyer to take on the whole business.

The Range bought the Wilko brand name and website, and since then has opened up three concept stores in Plymouth, Exeter and Luton.

Stationary chain Paperchase also went bust in 2023 but has since re-appeared in certain branches of Tesco.

Other retailers such as Boots, Poundland and Jack Wills all closed branches in 2023.

According to the British Retail Consortium, 6,000 retail outlets have closed down since 2018.

More changes are in store for 2024 too as some major retailers look to shake up their portfolios.

Large retailers such as Boots, Costa Next and Sports Direct are set to close down some locations.

We have the full list of shops closing down in 2024 including branches of Argos and WHSmith.

What about store openings?

Despite the many closures happening it is not all doom and gloom as some retailers are opening up new stores.

B&M is opening two stores in Porthmadog and Washington on January 18 and January 26.

The popular discounter is also opening a branch in Harrow, London, on February 10, and another in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, on February 21.

It is also opening up a branch in Thamesmead, London, on February 22 and Beaumont Lays, Leicester, a day later.

Supermarket giant Asda is on track to open more than 1,000 sites throughout the UK and Northern Ireland by March 2024.

Meanwhile clothing retailer Peacocks is set to open six new stores soon.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk