‘Won’t be much left soon’ sob shoppers as major book retailer with over 300 stores to close ‘lovely’ branch
A MAJOR book retailer has confirmed it will close a “lovely” branch in just days.
Waterstones will be closing a store in Ashford early next month much to the disappointment of locals.
The branch is located in County Square and will close for good on Sunday, June 2.
Kent Online reports that a sign has been put up in the store informing shoppers the store will soon close.
It reads: “The store will be closing permanently following trade on Sunday 2 June.
“Thank you to all our lovely customers and we hope to see you again soon in Ashford.”
Read more money stories
It is hoped that the branch will be able to find another site to open back up again.
A County Square official told Kent Online: “Waterstones plan to relocate to another part of the centre and we are in the final stages of discussions with them.
“We hope to announce the new store as soon as details are finalised and lease terms agreed.”
The Sun has reached out to Waterstones for comment.
Shoppers took to Facebook to share their disappointment at hearing the news.
One user said: “I will now have to go to Canterbury to buy my books. Such a shame. Hope they get a new premises.”
“Won’t be much left in the shopping spoon will there?” said another user.
A third user said: “So sad all the good shops going from Ashford.”
“It will be sad to see it go,” said a fourth user.
This is the first major Waterstones store closing we have seen since the pandemic.
However, as is common practice for retailers like Waterstones to open and close stores in order to reflect changing customer needs.
Waterstones competitor The Works has also closed down stores in recent months.
The Works in Forestfach Retail Park, Swansea closed last month another in also Penrith closed.
OTHER HIGH STREET NEWS
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.
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.
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. 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.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase 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.
Often retailers will target locations that are under-performing, have low footfall, or where leases are up for renewal, letting them end instead.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
M&S for example has closed a number of larger stores and opened food halls nearby instead.
Another high street giant Argos, which is owned by Sainsbury's, plans to close 100 stores across the UK in 2023/24 and focus on expanding its presence in supermarkets instead.
Retailers opening stores
IT'S not all bad news on the high street as several retailers are bucking the trend and opening shops.
- German discounter Aldi has announced it will open 35 new UK stores this year. The openings form part of Aldi's long-term target of operating 1,500 stores in the UK.
- Asda has been opening hundreds of convenience stores as it looks to rival major players Tesco and Sainsbury's.
- Purepay Retail Limited , the parent company of Bonmarché, Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) and Peacocks, Purepay Retail Limited, has said it wants to open 100 new high street stores over the next 18 months.
- Home Bargains has said it wants to "eventually have between 800 and 1,000 retail outlets open".
- Primark is also opening new branches and investing and renovating more than a dozen of its existing shops.
- Screwfix is set to open 40 new stores nationwide as its owner, Kingfisher, seeks to expand the DIY brand's national presence.
- Tesco has revealed plans to open 70 more stores across the UK over the next year as part of major expansion plans.
- WHSmith has turned its focus to the travel side of its business, with plans to open new sites in airports, railway stations and hospitals.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories