High street retailer with 240 shops launches huge closing down sale ahead of shutting six branches in DAYS

The Sun

6 hours ago

A MAJOR high street retailer has launched a huge closing down sale ahead of the closing of six of its branches across the UK.
GAME - which operates around 240 stores across the UK - has slashed the prices of some of its products by up to 20 per cent across the closing outlets.
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The retailing giant announced the closure of six of its stores across the UK in August and September, including outlets in Eldon Square in Newcastle and at Galleries Shopping Centre in Bristol.
Fans of the gaming store spotted major discounts at their local outlets that are due to be shut.
GAME, which stocks video games, consoles, and even LEGO products, is owned by Frasers Group - the company behind brands Sports Direct and House of Fraser.
Closing down sale signs were seen outside the popular store in Eldon Square last month, reports ChronicleLive.
GAME stores closing in August and September
Basingstoke, Hampshire (closed August 10)
Southend, Essex (due to close before end of August)
Metrocentre Shopping Centre, Gateshead (due to close September 7)
Galleries Shopping Centre, Bristol (due to close September 25)
Chatham, Kent (due to close before end of September)
Even more have appeared since the first sighting, with discounts slapped on countless products in the store.
These savings could grow even larger as the store heads closer to its final day of trading.
Other stores due for the chop include one outlet in the Metrocentre Shopping Centre in Gateshead as well as another in Southend, Essex.
This follows the closure of a number of other GAME stores in recent months, including shops in the Trafford Centre in Manchester in June and the outlet in the Victoria Centre in Nottingham in July.
GAME was acquired by the Frasers Group, owned by businessman Mike Ashley, in 2019, as part of a £52 million deal.
However, in January 2020 the retailer announced plans to close 40 of its more than 300 stores across the UK.
Major card chain with 163 shops launches closing down sales ahead of shutting its doors for good
Today, there are roughly 240 Game stores operating across the UK.
HIGH STREET STRUGGLES
The high street has majorly struggled in recent years due to a combination of factors.
Shoppers are buying much more of their products online, while retailers have faced higher rental, wage and energy costs.
The Centre for Retail Research says the sector has been going through a "permacrisis" since the 2008 financial crash.
Figures from the Centre show 34 retail companies operating multiple stores stopped trading in 2024, leading to the closure of 7,537 shops.
Businesses have cautioned more closures are to be expected this year as well due to the hike to employer NICs and staff wages.
The rate of employer NICs was hiked from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent and the threshold at which they are paid lowered from £9,100 to £5,000 in April.
The national minimum wage was also increased by up to £12.21 a hour.
Some big names have already announced mass store closures in 2025, including Poundland, Hobbycraft and The Original Factory Shop.
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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