‘High streets are dying’ cry shoppers as major retailer with 330 stores to close branch
SHOPPERS have been left bereft as a major retailer with hundreds of branches gears up to close one of its stores.
"Closing down" signs have appeared at the Shoe Zone shop in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland.
It appears a final closing date is yet to be announced by the chain, which runs over 330 locations across the UK, reports the Daily Record.
We have contacted Shoe Zone to find out the exact date the branch will be shutting.
News of the closure has been met with devastation from shoppers and locals alike.
One said: "All high streets are dying and that’s thanks to online shopping."
Read more in Store Closures
A second added: "Every town centre and high street throughout the country has shops going to the wall."
Meanwhile, a third chimed in: "Kilmarnock has been on the decline for a long time."
And a fourth commented: "Soon be no shops."
It's not the first Shoe Zone shop to shut in recent months, as the retailer closes a string of stores across the UK.
The chain is also closing a branch in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, according to local news reports.
It is not clear when exactly the store is pulling down its shutters.
Shoe Zone's Aberdeenshire branch will also close for good in June, although again an exact date has not yet been confirmed.
The retailer also shut 13 stores in 2023, in locations including Bristol, Portsmouth, Leicestershire and Suffolk.
It has plans to close a branch in Inverness, Scotland, over the coming months too, although it's not clear exactly when.
However, as is common practice for retailers, Shoe Zone has also been opening a swathe of shops across the UK.
Chains often close sites and reopen them to drive business in areas where they are more in demand.
Last year, Shoe Zone confirmed to The Sun it had opened eight stores over 12 months.
The retailer pulled up the shutters on branches in Maidstone, Bristol, South Shields, Gravesend and Colchester.
OTHER HIGH STREET NEWS
A number of retailers have been shutting stores across the UK in a hammer blow to shoppers.
Wilko, The Body Shop and Ted Baker have closed hundreds of branches between them after falling into administration.
Other retailers, including Poundland, Lidl and Iceland have closed single shops here and there too.
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 Paperchase, Cath Kidston, 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.
The Body Shop and Ted Baker are the biggest names to have already collapsed into administration this year.
But plenty of chains have been expanding their presence on the high street and across retail parks.
Poundland, Lidl and Aldi have all been expanding, pouncing on shoppers' appetites for cheap and good quality produce.
Health and beauty retailer Superdrug recently said it wants to open 25 new branches across the UK too.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Asda has been opening hundreds of convenience stores in recent months as it looks to rival major players Tesco and Sainsbury's.
And B&M plans to open "not less than" 45 brand new stores across the UK in each of the next two consecutive years.
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