A BUDGET retailer with over 300 branches has announced it will close in a bustling shopping centre.
The loss is a huge blow to residents who rely on the discount products– and it’s not the first essential shop to go.
Closing down sale signs flagged the exit of Poundstretcher in busy High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Chelmsford, Essex.
Shocked locals swarmed Facebook after hearing the news, with one person writing: “Such a shame, always has a great range of products.”
Another commented “Noooo!”, while a third fumed “there will be no shops left soon.”
It is currently unknown when the store is set to close – though we expect this will happen when stocks run out.
The reason for the store’s closure is also unknown.
The Sun has reached out to Poundstretcher for comment.
It is just the latest site to close in the Essex centre.
HMV closed down in 2024 and was replaced by Superdrug, while Greggs replaced GAME in 2022.
It is home to a host of popular brands such as JD Sports, Boots, and Primark.
However like most high streets, it is constantly at risk of closures – as well as an avalanche of job losses.
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.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April 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.
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.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has 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.”
HIGH STREET WOES
Multiple formerly-stable highstreet icons have fallen prey to financial hardships over recent months.
Shoezone closed several of its 297 branches in December, citing ‘unviable trading costs.’
And WHSmith has collapsed – since snapped up by Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital.
The deal will see the WHSmith name vanish from the high street forever.
The chain sold off almost 500 branches last month, with up to 20 set to shutter in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, high street fashion chain New Look has begun to close stores as it scales back its UK footprint.
Nearly 100 stores are understood to be shutting – 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.
This comes down to the upcoming increase in National Insurance contributions for employers.
The move, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October, is a huge blow to the high street – and the British Retail Consortium reckons these changes will rack up a £2.3billion bill for the sector.
Spring Budget at a glance
- Fuel duty will be frozen and the 5p cut extended for a year
- Alcohol duty will be frozen until February next year
- National insurance was cut by an additional 2p
- An extension of the Household Support Fund for the fifth time
- Households on Universal Credit will get an extra year to repay emergency loans from the Government
- A new tax on vapes, which will cause prices to rise
- A one-off new tax on fags to ensure they are more expensive than the electronic alternative
- The high income child benefit charge was raised from £50,000 to £60,000
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