A MAJOR retailer with 89 stores is closing seven branches starting in days.
Jeweller Beaverbrooks is preparing to close the shutters on a number of its locations this month and next.
The Sun previously revealed Beaverbrook’s plans to close seven branches deemed “no longer commercially viable.”
In England, five stores will be shutting their doors in Birmingham Fort, High Wycombe, Huddersfield, Croydon, and Sutton Coldfield.
Meanwhile, two Scottish branches are also set to close, located in East Kilbride and Dundee.
The East Kilbride branch in Scotland will close on March 16, followed by the Dundee branch in Scotland, also on March 16.
The Birmingham Fort store will shut its doors on March 23, alongside the High Wycombe branch, which is scheduled to close on the same day.
The Huddersfield store is set to close on April 5.
Finally, the Croydon and Sutton Coldfield branches will both close on April 6.
When the closures were initially announced, Anna Blackburn, managing director of the jewellery chain, stated that the decision to shut the sites was made following a review of business performance.
She added: “At Beaverbrooks we pride ourselves on our people-first culture and open, honest relationships with our colleagues.
“Our directors delivered the news in person to each team member.
“We aim to retain as many colleagues as possible within other Beaverbrooks stores or the wider business, and are working closely with each individual affected to provide them with options for their specific needs, supporting them with their next steps whatever they may be.”
The seven impending closures follow the shutdown of a Beaverbrooks store in Romford, London, last March.
Despite the closures, Beaverbrooks is set to open a new store in Harrogate this spring.
Retailers often close branches and open them in other areas based on customer demand and trends.
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.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April 2025, 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.
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.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko 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.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
Other shops leaving the high street
Beales, one of Britain’s oldest department stores, has launched a closing down sale before it shuts its last remaining shop after more than 140 years.
The company will shut its branch in Poole’s Dolphin Centre on May 31.
The sale includes fashion, furniture, gifts and cosmetics, being sold for up to 70% off.
Beales chief executive Tony Brown blamed the “devastating impact” of the rise in national insurance contributions and the higher minimum wage for the store closure.
Meanwhile, high street fashion chain New Look has begun to close stores as it scales back its UK footprint.
It is understood to be shutting nearly 100 stores – 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.
Meanwhile, Huttons in London will shut its store in the Putney Exchange due to excessive energy costs.
The gift shop became a local icon after it opened in the 1990s.
