‘There’s going to be absolutely nothing left’, moan shoppers as legendary shoe chain to close another branch
SHOPPERS are devastated as an iconic shoe chain is set to shut another one of its stores.
Clarks has confirmed that it will permanently close one of its branches later this month.
The shoe chain’s store in Workington is set to close later this month, leaving shoppers concerned that “there’s going to be absolutely nothing left”.
A spokesperson from Clarks said: “Clarks confirms its store in Workington will be closing in late September.
“We’d like to thank our loyal customers who have shopped with us at this stores, and we’ll be delighted to continue to serve them with our full range of products online and at our nearby Clarks stores in Whitehaven, Barrow in Furness and Carlisle.”
Despite the shock closure, the popular shoe retailer maintains over 300 branches nationwide.
Locals had spoken highly of the Workington store on Google reviews in the past.
“Fabulous service, couldn’t be more helpful,” said one shopper.
Another wrote: “Extremely helpful and friendly staff.”
“Excellent choice and quality – staff so professional,” commented another.
OTHER CLARKS CLOSURES
The sad news comes just days after the popular retailer announced that its shop in St Helier is shutting on July 27 after 24 years of trading.
Most recently, the chain announced the closure of a branch in March, in Cambridgeshire.
The popular retailer also confirmed that its shop on King Street in the capital St Helier shut on July 27 after 24 years of trading.
Clarks pulled down the shutters on its branch in Stroud, Gloucestershire, on June 10.
Clarks shut down its location on Marlborough’s High Street on April 22, leaving locals without a dedicated shoe shop in the area.
So far in 2024, Clarks has also closed:
- Grove Shopping Centre, Witham – January 13, 2024
- Saddlers Shopping Centre, Walsall – February 10, 2024
- East Grinstead – March 24, 2024
- Abingdon, Oxfordshire – April 22, 2024
- Marlborough High Street – April 22, 2024
- Stroud – June 2024
- Maidenhead – June 2024
- St Helier – July 27, 2024
- March – September 4, 2024
- Selby – September 14, 2024
In November 2023, Clarks also brought the shutters down on its site in Newport Retail Park.
The retailer pulled down the shutters on its branch in Murrygate, Dundee last July.
Last year, the branch in Fareham shopping centre was shut for good on August 5 and Inverness in September.
It also closed its shop in Grimsby at the end of October last year and its store in Newcastle under Lyme on November 3.
The full list of sites which have shut in recent years is:
- Kent in Ashford – end of 2022
- Gillingham, end of 2022
- Murraygate, Dundee – July 25, 2023
- Fareham Shopping Centre, Hampshire – August 5, 2023
- High Street, Inverness – end of September, 2023
- Grimsby – end of October, 2023
- Newport Retail Park – November, 2023
- Riverside Shopping Centre, Norwich – November, 2023
- Westwood Cross Shopping – mid-November, 2023
- High Street, Newcastle – November 2023
- Bicester Village, Oxfordshire – December 31, 2023
- The Bridges Shopping Centre, Sunderland – date unknown
But Clarks opened up a new store in Newcastle’s Eldon Square shopping centre on May 14, 2023.
Which other stores have we lost recently?
Workington and the general area of Cumbria have seen several high-street shops close over the years.
Last year, Wilko closed its doors for the final time in Workington after the retailer tumbled into administration.
Wilko collapsed after being hit hard by inflationary pressures, competition from rivals and supply chain challenges.
Last September, the retailer announced all 400 shops would close that same month.
Several rivals swooped in to buy out some of Wilko’s store portfolio though, including Poundland, which purchased 71 stores.
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.
Clintons is also among retailers to have been affected by depressed high street footfall and competition from online rivals.
Its store in Whitehaven, Cumbria, was closed last March with the firm going into administration earlier that same year.
We have seen several big losses in the last 12 months including popular discounter Wilko and stationary brand Paperchase.
More recently, health and beauty chain The Body Shop fell into administration and announced the closure of many of its 200 stores.
Almost 500 staff are set to lose their jobs after 75 stores were earmarked for closure.
Plus, Ted Baker fell into administration in March 2024 too, with 15 stores having shut by April 19.
Other retailers such as Iceland, Boots and Matalan have been slimming down the number of stores they have on the high street.
Just this spring Boots is closing a total of nine sites, as part of its wider plans to get rid of 300 locations.
These closures will see the retailer’s total shops reduced from 2,200 to 1,900.
This has upset a lot of locals in the affected towns, however, the health and beauty chain has said where stores are closing there is an alternative shop less than three miles away.
Last year Argos started to put in place its plans to reduce the number of standalone stores and focus on opening more locations inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
It closed 42 UK shops, including all 34 of its branches in the Republic of Ireland last June.