High street retailer with 80 UK branches to SHUT popular store with closing down sale in days
A POPULAR high street retailer with 80 stores is closing one town centre location within days.
Ann Summers in Taunton has been a staple on the high street since 2004.
However, this seductive store will close to shoppers for the final time on Saturday, March 8.
An Ann Summers spokesperson told to the Somerset County Gazette: "As part of the normal course of business, we regularly review the location of our stores, which occasionally results in new site openings, renovations, relocations, and store closures.
"Unfortunately, we will be closing our Taunton store on 8 March, 2025."
Thankfully, Taunton residents can get their hands on some in-store closing down deals as a final farewell.
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Known for its provocative lingerie and collection of risque bedroom toys, the shop is now offering a "clearance event" and a 70% off sale.
For those who will sorely miss the racy retailer, the next nearest shop is in Exeter and Plymouth.
Some retailers have closed a few branches here and there for various reasons, like when a store lease has come to an end.
Other examples of one-off rather than widespread closures is if there are changes in the area, like a shopping centre closing, and in some cases a shop will close to relocate to another area.
Some chains have faced tougher conditions though, forcing them to shut dozens of stores, or all of them in the worst case.
Shoppers were disappointed when Ann Summers on Glasgow's Argyle street closed down last year.
It was another high street favourite that was forced to shut after the landlord closed three units in the area.
However the brand promised to pop back up nearby and vowed that they weren't gone for good but simply "relocating."
Luckily, lovebirds also had another branch in the city if they couldn't wait for the relocation name to drop.
Alternatively, fantasies can be fulfilled on the retailers website which can deliver directly to your home for an extra cost.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko to name a few.
What's increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
Other shops leaving the high street
Beales, one of Britain's oldest department stores, has launched a closing down sale before it shuts its last remaining shop after more than 140 years.
The company will shut its branch in Poole's Dolphin Centre on May 31.
The sale includes fashion, furniture, gifts and cosmetics, being sold for up to 70% off.
Beales chief executive Tony Brown blamed the "devastating impact" of the rise in national insurance contributions and the higher minimum wage for the store closure.
Meanwhile, high street fashion chain New Look has begun to close stores as it scales back its UK footprint.
It is understood to be shutting nearly 100 stores - equivalent to around a quarter of its 364 shops.
Stores in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, St Austell, Cornwall and Porth, Rhondda Cynon Taf have launched closing down sales.
Reports suggest that the company has been forced to accelerate the pace of store closures due to tax changes in the Autumn Budget.
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Meanwhile, Huttons in London will shut its store in the Putney Exchange due to excessive energy costs.
The gift shop became a local icon after it opened in the 1990s.