Major chain launches closing down sale ahead of shutting two branches in DAYS
Sports Direct is pulling down the shutters on one shop in Rhyl, North Wales and another in Liverpool in September and October.
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The chain's store in the Liverpool ONE Shopping Centre is closing on September 29, the Liverpool Echo reports.
The brand, owned by the Frasers Group, is said to be relocating to a new unit in the city's Church Street.
Meanwhile, a site in Rhyl's White Rose Shopping Centre will permanently shut in October, the Daily Post reports.
An exact closure date for the Rhyl branch is yet to be confirmed.
Both stores have reportedly launched closing down sales, with up to 20% off stock.
One Rhyl local has set up a petition calling for Sports Direct bosses to keep the town's branch open.
It reads: "Rhyl, with its vibrant community and rich sporting culture, relies heavily on Sports Direct for affordable, quality sportswear and equipment.
"It supports local individuals and visitors to Rhyl who participate in various sporting activities, contributing positively to the health and vitality of our community."
"Sports Direct's presence in Rhyl also means contributing to the local economy beyond just payroll.
"It draws people into the town centre, benefiting other businesses and promoting a bustling, lively shopping environment.
Britain's retail apocalypse: why your favourite stores KEEP closing down
"We urge the people involved to reconsider this closure."
It comes after a Sports Direct branch in Cambridge shut down in April, after launching a huge closing down sale.
One frustrated shopper branded the closure "another nail in the coffin" for the city.
Sports Direct also pulled the plug on its Central Six Retail Park store in Coventry at the end of January.
Last year, its branches in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and on Octagon Parade in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, also shut permanently.
The Sun asked Frasers Group to comment.
HIGH STREET WOES
The retail sector has struggled since the onset of online shopping and the coronavirus pandemic.
Higher inflation since 2022 has also hit shoppers' budgets.
The Centre for Retail Research has said the sector has been going through a "permacrisis" since the 2008 financial crash.
Figures from the Centre also show 34 retail companies operating multiple stores stopped trading in 2024, leading to the closure of 7,537 shops.
In June, Polish owner Pepco Group sold Poundland to US investment firm Gordon Brothers for £1 after a downturn in trading.
The new owners are currently going through the process of shutting up to 68 stores and negotiate lower rents on others.
Both Hobbycraft and The Original Factory Shop are also currently shutting branches as part of restructuring efforts.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
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."
Professor Bamfield has also 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."
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