THE boss of WHSmith has given a major update on the future of its UK stores.
The retailer has said that it won’t be opening up any more high street branches as it looks to place its focus elsewhere.
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The boss of WHSmith has told the BBC that the retail giant will not be opening up any more UK high street stores.
Instead, it will be placing its focus on UK airports and train stations, as well as looking to expand in the US and Europe.
Speaking to the BBC, its chief executive Carl Cowling said: “We’ve got a very healthy high street business in the UK.
“But we’ve got no ambitions to grow that.”
WHSmith currently has around 550 stores and he went on to say that opening more “would just be a duplication.”
He added: “When you look at the main cities across England, Wales and Scotland, we are present in those cities.
It comes as Boots revealed it is closing 300 branches over the next year.
Shops at risk are ones where there are already two in a town.
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A spokesperson for WHSmith told The Sun that the retailer has no plans to close any of the current high street stores.
In 2018 and 2019 consumer group Which? ranked WHSmith among the UK’s worst high street retailers after some customers complained about poor customer service, bad value for money and the dire state of its stores.
Over the past 20 years, the retailer has significantly expanded its presence in airports and train stations.
It has also increased its offering at motorway service stations and US-based casino resorts.
Cowling told the BBC that WHSmith’s biggest growth market is the US, and it has captured around 12% of the retail market in US airports.
He added that the retailer will spend about £120m this year opening shops in the US and Europe.
Kate Hardcastle, chief executive of retail insights agency, Insight with Passion, said airports and service stations represented a “golden opportunity” for WH Smith.
She said: “As more of us now travel with technology we are all the more likely to forget essentials, all much more of a selling opportunity than the odd bottle of water.”
She added: “A retailer like WHSmith is going to see the value in investing and building a new captive airport audience than a challenged High Street”.
Many retailers are closing the shutters for good on the high street as they struggle to make a comeback following covid.
Just last week iconic fashion brand Cath Kidston which once boasted hundreds of shops around the world, closed its doors for good on its four remaining shops.
And the beginning of June retail giant Argos announced the closure of all of its 34 stores in the Republic of Ireland.
As the cost of living continues to rise shoppers are cutting back on spending and retailers are feeling the pinch.
We did a round-up of all of the shops set to close for good by the end of 2023.
