High street chain with over 500 locations shuts long-standing branch and launches huge closing down sale

The Sun

3 days ago

A POPULAR high street chain with more than 500 locations is shutting one of its branches — and everything inside must go.
The Works in Acocks Green, Birmingham, which has been a familiar face on Warwick Road for over 20 years, is holding a huge closing down sale, with posters in the window reading: 'Sorry, we are closing! Everything must go.'
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The stationery and books chain sits between Peacocks and New Image opticians but now appears to be preparing to vacate the unit.
The closure follows several other big-name exits from the area, including Costa Coffee, which shut earlier this year.
A spokesperson for The Works said: 'We are currently in negotiations with our landlord regarding our store in Acocks Green and would like to reassure customers that we're doing all we can to retain a presence in the town.'
Locals have taken to social media to share their disappointment, calling the once-thriving centre 'finished'.
One anonymous resident wrote: 'Can remember years ago you could spend hours mooching around all the shops they had... now all we have is barbers and nail bars. Such a shame.'
Ann Kain added: 'One of the few decent shops left in The Green. What a dump now.'
The closing down sale has seen prices slashed, with many items now going for less than half their usual price as the store clears its shelves.
It comes as the high street faces mounting pressure across the UK, with more well-known names either cutting down locations or disappearing entirely.
The Original Factory Shop is preparing to shut ten shops, including nine set to close this month.
Why are shops closing stores?
The firm previously warned some locations were no longer sustainable.
Poundland is also closing its Surrey Quays branch in London this week, with a further 200 stores reportedly at risk.
A final decision on the sale of the chain is expected in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, long-running department store Daniel of Ealing will shut its doors for good on June 8 after 120 years in business.
It has launched a massive clearance sale to mark the closure.
Iceland will also shut its College Square, Margate branch on June 21, though the supermarket has not confirmed the exact reason.
Staff will be offered other roles within the business.
Ginger, a family-run clothing store operating since the 1970s, will close for good on June 7 after nearly five decades on the high street.
With more shops closing and fewer new businesses moving in, many local centres like Acocks Green are struggling to maintain footfall and retain a mix of useful shops.
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.
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