Major high street retailer with over 1,000 branches to shut ‘little gem’ store leaving shoppers ‘heartbroken’
A POPULAR high street retailer has announced it will be shutting down another one of its stores in the coming months.
The WHSmith in Stanley Square, Sale will be closing on September 14.
The store is set to run a closing-down sale until its closure in September, according to local news outlet Life in Sale.
The news about the closure was shared on the Life in Sale Facebook page, and shoppers expressed their devastation.
One person commented: “End of an era, it’s been there a long time, hardly any shops now, no point in going to Sale really, I’m almost sure it will be another cafe or restaurant”
Another person commented: “How long before one of the supermarkets pull out of Sale? Sale centre is dying at a rapid rate.”
Someone else added: “Heartbroken, where can I buy magazine… Altrincham?”
The store also has high Google rating with shoppers.
One shopper commented: “A fairly typical WHSmith store… A little bit of the small side but had everything that I needed. It’s easy to find, although maybe not in a prestigious location.
“Staff were helpful and quickly pointed me to what I needed.
“As with any WHS store the items were of a decent quality for the price.”
The retail giant, which runs over 1,100 stores and sells books, stationary and convenience products, has shuttered eight stores since March 2023, including in Manchester and Bicester, England.
Of course just because a single store is shutting it doesn’t mean the business is at risk, chains shut shops for all sorts of reasons.
A WHSmith spokesperson told The Sun: “We can confirm that the WHSmith store in Sale will be closing on Saturday 14 September owing to the landlord’s redevelopment plans.
“We are disappointed to be losing our presence in Sale and we would like to thank all our customers for their support and for shopping with us.
“We are also extremely grateful for the commitment of our in-store colleagues who we will support with this transition and redeploy to nearby stores, where possible.”
Back in April, WHSmith announced it would be closing two stores in Huddersfield and Boscombe because it was no longer sustainable to continue trading from them.
Another store in South Cheshire was also closed down.
But the retailer has also revealed plans to open 15 new stores this year, at airports and train stations in a boost for shoppers.
WHSmith is yet to reveal the list of locations where it is opening branches, or when they will welcome in customers for the first time.
It forms part of wider WHSmith plans to open 110 new shops worldwide.
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.
What is happening to the high street?
The high street has been hit hard in recent years as shoppers turn to online retailer.
High energy costs and business rates have also added pressure to businesses.
This has left some remaining retailers grappling with budgets and having no choice but to close stores to cut costs.
A number of major brands have crashed into administration since 2023, including Wilko and Paperchase.
The Body Shop also fell into administration and it has seen dozens of branches close.
Administrators for Ted Baker have confirmed 15 sites across England will close permanently in a blow to the high street.
Boots announced it would be closing 300 stores as part of plans to evolve its brand.
M&S has also confirmed store closures and openings with plans to ensure it has the best store locations.
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