Major update on Carpetright closures as dates for stores opening under new name confirmed
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FOUR former Carpetright stores will reopen as branches of Tapi in days after the chain unveiled 21 new shops so far this spring.
Carpetright entered into administration on July 22, 2024, after 'challenging trading conditions' put pressure on the homeware retailer.
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Four former Carpetright stores are set to reopen as Tapi shops this month
Credit: Athena
The brand was then acquired by Tapi, who purchased two of its warehouses and 54 of its retail units.
Tapi was founded in 2014 by Martin Harris, the son of Carpetright founder Lord Harris of Peckham.
The move aimed to save 308 jobs and preserve the Carpetright brand, with hopes it would flourish under new ownership.
So far 21 new shops have opened this spring in the following locations:
Bristol
Cannock
Carmarthen
Chesterfield
Cramlington
East Grinstead
East Sheen
Epsom
Hereford
Ipswich
Lancaster
Mansfield
Newbury
Newmarket
North Shields
Sevenoaks
Southampton
Teddington
Trowbridge
Wimbledon
Woking
Tapi has now announced that four new stores will open in May.
Former Carpetright stores in Basildon, Coventry, Crawley and Leeds Birstall will all open as Tapi shops this month.
The stores will stock a selection of carpet, laminate, luxury vinyl, vinyl and engineered wood.
Once these additional stores reopen, the total number of Carpetright locations that have reopened as Tapi will rise to 25.
Charlie Harris, director of buying at Tapi Carpets and Floors said: 'Everyone at Tapi is really excited about our new store openings over the coming weeks.
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.
'Each of these stores has been carefully chosen to bring us closer to our mission of delivering great value flooring to everyone in Britain and we're quietly confident that they will be a real success for us.'
It is not yet clear if and when the remaining 31 Tapi stores will open.
Which Carpetright stores were bought by Tapi?
According to administrators PwC the following Carpetright stores were purchased by Tapi:
Basildon
Birmingham Erdington
Bishopbriggs
Bristol Longwell Green
Camborne
Camden
Carmarthen
Cheadle
Chesterfield
Chichester
Chippenham
Clapham Common
Coventry Airport Retail Park
Cramlington
Croydon
Dumbarton
Dumfries
East Sheen
Edinburgh Hermiston Gait
Epsom
Farnborough
Friern Barnet
Haywards Heath
Hemel Hempstead
Hereford
High Wycombe Loudwater
Holloway
Hove
Ipswich Anglia Park
Lancaster
Leeds Kirkstall
Maidstone
Mansfield
New Malden
Newbury
Newmarket
North Shields
Norwich Sprowston
Peterborough
Plymouth Marsh Mills
Southampton Hedge End
Stockton
Swindon Bridgemead
Teddington
Trowbridge
Truro
Washington Armstrong
West Wickham
Weston-Super-Mare
Weymouth
Whetstone
Wimbledon
Woking
Yeovil
Chessington Warehouse
Croydon Warehouse
Which other stores have returned to the high street?
Several Homebase stores have reopened as branches of The Range as part of a rescue deal.
The DIY chain entered into administration in November but was partially rescued by billionaire Chris Dawson, owner of CDS Superstores, the parent company of The Range and Wilko.
The intervention aimed to preserve up to 70 stores, safeguard 1,600 jobs and retain the Homebase brand.
Huge chain Carpetright survives
So far 45 new format superstores have opened across the UK and Republic of Ireland since the beginning of the year.
These are The Range stores with Homebase departments, such as Garden Centres by Homebase or Kitchens by Homebase.
Six sites will open this month in Stamford, Market Harborough, Cookstown, Tiverton, Santry, Dublin and Clitheroe.
Stores in Stamford and Market Harborough reopened yesterday.
Meanwhile, shops in Cookstown, Tiverton and Santry, Dublin will open on May 9.
The Clitheroe store will reopen on May 16.
Once all of these stores have reopened, the total number of former Homebase locations to have been acquired by The Range will rise to 49.
Meanwhile, Topshop has teased a return to the High Street and confirmed its new website will launch later this year.
Asos rescued the company four years ago and has now signed a deal to sell the clothing in a number of its partner stores.
The topshop.com website will exclusively sell the brand's clothing and is expected to launch in the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, Wilko has returned to the high street after falling into collapse.
The brand, website and intellectual property were purchased by the owners of The Range and since then six Wilkos have reopened across the UK.
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