Major retailer with 77 stores to shut 16 branches before Christmas – see the full list of closure dates
A MAJOR retailer is set to shut 16 of its branches before Christmas.
Dobbies first announced the closure plans last month but now the proposed dates these garden centres will close have been revealed.
The chain, which has 77 sites across the UK, launched the restructuring plan to address “historically uneconomical rent costs”.
It also said it would work with landlords to seek temporary rent reductions at a further nine sites.
Dobbies began a financial overhaul of the business back in August, which it warned would lead to shop closures.
One of the signposted sites, Antrim, will no longer be closing after positive conversations with the landlord.
It’s important to note though that the restructuring plan is still subject to approval by the courts.
The 16 sites will continue to operate as normal for now until the plan is approved.
A spokesperson for Dobbies previously told The Sun: “Subject to the restructuring plan being successfully approved, we expect the affected sites to cease trading by the end of the year.
“Thereafter, Dobbies will operate 60 stores and continue to play a key role in the market, working constructively with stakeholders and suppliers, and having an active and committed role in the communities in which it’s based.”
The group previously said the closures would affect 465 employees, of the company’s roughly 3,600-strong workforce.
As previously announced, the Little Dobbies sites signposted for closure will all shut by the end of the month:
- Little Dobbies – Bristol – already closed
- Little Dobbies – Richmond – already closed
- Little Dobbies – Cheltenham – already closed
- Little Dobbies – Edinburgh Stockbridge – November 24
- Little Dobbies – Chiswick – November 24
- Little Dobbies – Westbourne Grove – November 24
The proposed closure dates for the other sites, first reported by Gardenforum and subject to court approval, are:
- Dobbies – Pennine – December 15
- Dobbies – Kings Lynn – December 15
- Dobbies – Gloucester – December 15
- Dobbies – Harlestone Heath – December 17
- Dobbies – Altrincham – December 17
- Dobbies – Gosforth – December 19/20
The following are said to be holding closing down sales, without a specific closure date listed:
- Huntingdon
- Inverness
- Reading
- Stratford on Avon
The nine sites where Dobbies is seeking rent reductions from landlords are:
- Aylesbury – World’s End
- Hare Hatch
- Havant
- Leicester
- Lelant
- Morpeth
- Northampton
- Rugby
- Stapleton
The Sun has contacted Dobbies for comment and will update this story when we hear back.
Restructuring plans are often launched by businesses when they find themselves in financial difficulty to help shore up extra costs.
The process can sometimes lead to store closures or job losses.
It comes as many retailers are struggling to keep their heads above water.
High inflation coupled with a squeeze on consumers’ finances has meant people have less money to spend in the shops.
Garden centres and home improvement businesses also boomed during the pandemic when customers were stuck at home.
But customers have been forced to cut back on spending since.
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.
Home improvement chains struggle
Homebase appointed consultancy firm Teneo as administrators last Wednesday after it was hit hard by an “incredibly challenging” time for the DIY sector.
The administrators were able to strike a deal last week to sell the business to retail group CDS, which owns bargain chains The Range and Wilko.
But it has now put 74 stores up for sale, and set a deadline for the sites to be sold by next Friday.
In the spring, Kingfisher, which owns B&Q and Screwfix, revealed that annual profits had slumped by more than a quarter.
The company reported a 25.1% drop in underlying pre-tax profits to £568million for the year to January 31, 2024.
Window and door specialist Everest called in administrators in April, leaving customers in the dark about their orders.
Last year, the group had previously cautioned profits would slip after a 36% drop in pre-tax profits from £1billion to £611million in the 12 months to January 2023.
Rival Wickes also reported a 31% fall in profits to £52million on flat revenues of £1.55billion for 2023.
Windows and doors company Safestyle collapsed into administration in October last year.
The company has a manufacturing site in Wombwell, near Barnsley and 42 sales branches and depots across the country.
Flooring retailer Tapi recently struck a multimillion-pound rescue deal to save the Carpetright brand and dozens of stores last month.
Tapi purchased 54 of the chain’s stores and two warehouses in a pre-pack administration deal that saved 300 jobs.
However, the deal did not include 200 other stores which all closed their doors.
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