Major retail chain with 115 stores across the country confirms more shops will close next month - as it announces sales to clear remaining stock
Popular arts and crafts retailer Hobbycraft has announced that nine more stores are closing their doors to customers across both the remainder of August and into September.
Three shops in Bromborough, Stratford-upon-Avon and Southport previously shut for business on August 4, 6 and 7, respectively.
Now, six more shops are set to close next month, with the closures set to take place across Wigan, Chichester, Stafford, Maidenhead, Crayford and Kings Lynn, The Sun has reported.
The dates of such closures are yet to be announced.
Multiple closing down sales have been launched as a result, with some shoppers even reporting that items are being sold at a whopping 20 per cent discount in a bid to clear any remaining stock.
It comes after nine other Hobbycraft stores were forced to stop trading by mid-July in a move that impacted up to 126 jobs as part of a restructure.
The impacted stores were based in Bagshot, Surrey; Basildon, Essex; Borehamwood, Hertfordshire; Bristol; Canterbury, Kent; Cirencester, Gloucestershire; Dunstable, Bedfordshire; Epping Forest, Essex and Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex.
Having purchased the superstore chain in August last year, private equiry firm owner Modella Capital launched the overhaul in April, announcing that between 72 and 126 jobs could be impacted.
Adding that the future of 'a number of other stores' remained under review, the restructuring was also set to result in redundancies across its Bournemouth head office and distribution centre in Burton-on-Trent.
Alex Wilson, Hobbycraft's chief executive officer, described the popular chain as the 'UK's leading arts and crafts retailer' that has 'become places for gaining crafting ideas and inspiration'.
Reflecting on the nationwide closures, he said: 'Very sadly, the strength of our offering has not made us immune from the challenges faced by the retail sector in recent years.
'Closing stores is always a last resort and this has been an extremely difficult decision.
'Making these changes is sadly a necessary action to enable us to keep our doors open to crafters up and down the country.'
Modella, which is also reportedly pursuing a restructuring at The Original Factory Shop business, agreed to buy WHSmith's high street business earlier this year.
It said the shake-up is intended to secure the future of at least 99 stores and 1,800 jobs across the business.
But the closure of the nine Hobbycraft stores have added an ever-growing list of high street chains forced to close stores in the past months.
Just this month it was revealed that Poundland were set to close up to 49 stores across the UK, with ten closing for good on August 11.
The discount shop chain's owner, Polish firm Pepco Group, sold the struggling business in June to US-based Gordon Brothers for a 'nominal fee' of just £1.
The investment firm, which used to own textile brand Laura Ashley, said it would inject up to £80million into restructuring the company.
As part of these efforts, it has said a whopping nearly 70 Poundland stores will close by mid-October - nearly ten per cent of the estimated total network of 800.
Three of these 68 ill-fated branches have already shut their doors - and now, the locations of 49 more of them have been confirmed.
After the shutters come down on ten, some 15 stores will then close in less than a week's time, on August 17, followed by 12 on August 24, and 11 on August 31.
Poundland is set to shut 49 stores across the UK. A whopping nearly 70 Poundland stores will close by mid-October - nearly ten per cent of the estimated total network of 800
The final closure of this group of 49 will then come on September 14, with the shutdown of the branch at the Rivergate Shopping Centre in Irvine, North Ayrshire.
Britain's high streets have been warned there is 'worse to come' this year after more than 13,000 shops closed their doors for good in 2024 – an increase of 28 per cent on the year before.
In another gloomy report, industry experts predicted that 17,350 shops will shut down this year.
It is the highest figure since the Centre for Retail Research began collecting the data in 2015 and follows the closure of 13,479 stores last year.
Hobbycraft has been approached for comment.
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