A MAJOR charity shop chain has launched a major £1 closing-down sale as it gears up to close its doors for the final time.
Scope, which runs shops across England and Wales, is shuttering its location in Burton upon Trent later today.
"Last chance to grab a bargain before we close on Friday," the retailer wrote on Facebook.
"Thank you for all your support and custom."
This is the full list of stores which have closed and are set to shutter in the coming days:
- Blyth - May 10
- Hove, George Street - May 17
- Erdington - May 24
- West Hampstead, London - May 24
- Exmouth - May 31
- Bury - May 31
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The six closures come after Scope shut 22 branches in March and April following a consultation process earlier this year.
This is on top of six sites which shut due to their leases ending.
The four stores that closed in April as part of the consultation period were in Newport, Southampton, Atherstone and Welling.
Meanwhile, these are the 18 stores that closed in March as part of the consultation:
- Amersham
- Barking
- Bangor
- Birkenhead
- Bishop Auckland
- Castleford
- Devizes
- Dewsbury
- Eastbourne
- Haywards Heath
- Lewisham
- New Milton
- Orpington
- Parkstone
- Scunthorpe
- Shirley (Southampton)
- Skipton
- Workington
Scope said a further 35 branches will shut, on top of the May closures, bringing the total number of closures to 70.
It has also confirmed that another five shops are set to be shut later this year, with a possible further two as well. Bringing the total number of closures to 77.
The locations of these stores or their closure dates are yet to be revealed.
Debbie Boylen, head of retail at Scope, said: "We know our teams put in their very best efforts, but our shops are collectively now losing money when taking account of all of their costs.
"A number make strong profits but there are loss making shops too.
“We never take the decision to close our stores lightly."
Scope first launched the consultation to close dozens of its stores in January due to declining footfall and spiralling costs.
Chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said the charity's retail arm had made a “real contribution to raising vital income”, but that external factors had “made trading harder”.
He added: "This situation isn’t confined to Scope. All retailers have been hit with a greater shift to online shopping.
"And we are facing rising rents, soaring energy costs, increased staff costs, and the cost of living squeezing customers."
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Despite its challenges at high street branches, Scope's online sales have boomed in recent years.
It saw online sales increase by 75% in 2023/24, up £1.2million on the year before.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025."
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
"By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."