British high street giant launches 50% off sale before shutting down store in ‘another blow' for shoppers
Signs announcing the pending closure of the branch have been displayed on the shop's doors on Middlesbrough high street.
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Major retailer closes branch
The Next store will shut its doors for good in less than two weeks, with the retailer confirming the that it will stop trading on Saturday, July 12.
The clothing and home-wear store has several branches across Teesside, however signs have confirmed that the Linthorpe Road store will be closing.
Signs announcing a 50 per cent off sale starting Saturday July 5, have also been hung in the windows in the build up to the closure.
Next are yet to release any details on how jobs will be affected by this devastating closure.
Building owner speaks on closure
The building owner, Nasser Din, told Teesside Live: "This is very sad news, it's another blow for the town centre.
"It's another loss of a major fashion department store in Middlesbrough."
Mr Din also explained that while he hasn't received official confirmation of the closure in writing yet, his office understands the store will shut its doors within the next fortnight.
He told Teesside Live that he believes a lack of footfall may have impacted Next's decision, although the reason for the closure is yet to be confirmed by bosses.
Mr Din remorsefully added: "People are stopping coming here."
He explained that once Next have actually left, his team can decide what is best for the building, but sorrowfully added that it would be "wishful thinking" for it to be put back as a retail space.
On a positive note, Mr Din expressed hope that the Tees Valley Authority may invest in the town centre, where he said there has previously been a lack of investment.
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UK retailers announce more closures
This comes after other major UK retailers have recently announced store closures.
Just yesterday, it was reported that Poundland plans to close another branch by the end of the month.
The bargain goods retailer will be pulling down the shutters on a store in Dudley on July 18.
A Poundland spokesperson said: "We know how disappointing it is for customers when a location like Merry Hill closes, but we look forward to welcoming them to our other stores right across the West Midlands."
Another high street giant shut more of its doors on July 1, a matter of hours after closing an additional 10 stores.
New Look closed its Hamilton, Scotland branch in a move that left locals "gutted."
According to Sky News, owners Alcentra and Brait, are talking to advisers in a move which could trigger an auction of the business.
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 showed that more than half of companies planned to raise prices by early April.
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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