A SHOE chain with 300 branches is pulling the shutters down for good on more stores in a matter of days.
Clarks has confirmed that locations in East Grinstead and Maidenhead are next in line to go, following a string of closures.
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The iconic retailer which has over 300 UK stores has already pulled the plug on some of its locations.
It closed down its Witham store in January and in November it brought the shutters down on its site in Newport Retail Park.
Now the retailer has confirmed that its East Grinstead store will close on March 24 and its Maidenhead store will follow in June 2024.
Clarks told The Sun: “We have a strong duty of care to all our employees and have worked closely with the store team through a period of consultation.
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“We thank them all for their dedication in serving our customers over the years.”
Residents in both areas have been taking to social media to react to the news.
It’s ridiculous the town is getting a joke now!
Social Media user
One local in East Grinstead said: “Very sad to hear this, I have been buying long-lasting great footwear there for years, another loss for the town.”
Another commented: “It’s ridiculous the town is getting a joke now!”
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While a third said: “Such a shame, there are more and more empty shops.”
Maidenhead locals share the same frustration at the loss of its Clarks store.
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One person said: “Oooo no how are we supposed to measure out children’s feet now?”
Another added: “So we will have no shoe shop in town?”
A third said: “This is sad to hear, I remember a time when our high street had loads of shoe shops, we were spoilt for choice.”
Local high streets have become a shadow of their former self in recent years, it seems not a week goes by without another shop disappearing.
A combination of rising rents and shoppers turning to online retail since covid have both contributed to the downfall of our town centre shops.
The rising cost of living has also meant that many people are thinking twice before they splash the cash on anything beyond the weekly essentials.
This has meant that big retailers have either vanished altogether due to falling into administration or are slimming down the number of high street branches they operate.
What other stores have we lost recently?
We have seen several big losses in the last 12 months including popular discounter Wilko and stationary brand Paperchase.
More recently, health and beauty chain The Body Shop has fallen into administration and announced the closure of many of its 200 stores.
Almost 500 staff are set to lose their jobs after 75 stores have been earmarked for closure over the next few weeks.
We have the full list of branches that are set to close – is your local affected?
Other retailers such as Iceland, Boots and Matalan have been slimming down the number of stores they have on the high street.
Just this month Boots has announced that it will be closing a total of nine sites, as part of its wider plans to get rid of 300 locations.
These closures will see the retailer’s total shops reduced from 2,200 to 1,900.
This has upset a lot of locals in the affected towns, however, the health and beauty chain has said where stores are closing there is an alternative shop less than three miles away.
Last year Argos started to put in place its plans to reduce the number of standalone stores and focus on opening more locations inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
It closed 42 UK shops, including all 34 of its branches in the Republic of Ireland last June.
Marks and Spencer is another retailer that has been making changes to its store portfolio.
In 2022, M&S announced that it would be shutting 67 “lower productivity” stores as part of the 110 stores it had already earmarked for closure.
However, it was not all bad news for M&S shoppers as where some stores closed, others opened up in new locations.
In November last year, nine new openings happened, which included six new stores plus three store renewals.
Is it all bad news?
The answer to that is no, some retailers are expanding despite the difficult trading conditions.
Primark recently confirmed plans to open new branches and invest and renovate more than a dozen of its existing shops.
Meanwhile, Asda is massively expanding its portfolio of smaller Express stores, with plans to open 110 new stores.
Popular discounter B&M also said it had plans to open 17 new sites in 2024 with some set to open imminently.
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Also earlier this year WHSmith confirmed it would be opening up 15 new shops, but they would not be on the high street.
We have the full list of chains opening stores in 2024 – see if one is coming to a high street near you.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
The high street has seen a whole raft of closures over the past year, and more are coming.
The number of jobs lost in British retail dropped last year, but 120,000 people still lost their employment, figures have suggested.
Figures from the Centre for Retail Research revealed that 10,494 shops closed for the last time during 2023, and 119,405 jobs were lost in the sector.
It was fewer shops than had been lost for several years, and a reduction from 151,641 jobs lost in 2022.
The centre’s director, Professor Joshua Bamfield, said the improvement is “less bad” than good.
Although there were some big-name losses from the high street, including Wilko, many large companies had already gone bust before 2022, the centre said, such as Topshop owner Arcadia, Jessops and Debenhams.
“The cost-of-living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend,” Prof Bamfield said.
“Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult.”
Alongside Wilko, which employed around 12,000 people when it collapsed, 2023’s biggest failures included UK Flooring Direct, Planet Organic and Tile Giant.
The Centre for Retail Research said most stores were closed because companies were trying to reorganise and cut costs rather than the business failing.
However, experts have warned there will likely be more failures this year as consumers keep their belts tight and borrowing costs soar for businesses.
Last year, around 14% of insolvencies were in retail businesses, according to official figures.
