Major health retailer with 700 stores to shut another branch as closing down sale launched

Scottish Sun

12 hours ago

It is by no means all bad news for the retailer. Read more about why below...
CLOSING TIME Major health retailer with 700 stores to shut another branch as closing down sale launched
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A MAJOR health retailer with more than 700 branches is shutting another store in days as a closing down sale is launched.
Holland and Barrett is pulling down the shutters on the shop in the Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, Hartlepool.
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Holland and Barrett is closing a branch in Hartlepool this week
Credit: Getty
The branch will open for the last time on Wednesday, August 6, reports the Hartlepool Mail.
Stock has also reportedly been reduced by up to 75% off, with shoppers able to get some major bargains.
A spokesperson for Holland & Barrett told the Hartlepool Mail: 'As part of Holland & Barrett's £70m investment in the transformation of its stores, technology and new product development, we are continually reviewing our locations to provide our customers the very best health and wellness products and advice.
"This includes opening new stores, consolidating some smaller stores into one larger store, and in some instances, closing stores where there is no longer strong customer demand."
It comes after closing down signs were spotted at another Holland and Barrett branch in Inverness, Scotland, in June.
No exact closure date for the branch was revealed, with shoppers signposted to the health retailer's website.
A store in Henley also relocated earlier this year.
However, it is far from all bad news for Holland and Barrett as it recently toasted positive financial results.
It ended the financial year up to September 30, 2024, with 10% year-on-year sales growth and gross profit totalling £524.2million.
This was the second year running of double-digit growth as it looks to open more stores globally.
Britain's retail apocalypse: why your favourite stores KEEP closing down
It plans to open 36 new stores across its estate as well as freshen up 320 existing branches.
The retailer also has plans to launch more concessions across the UK and Ireland, Netherlands and Belgium.
Its own-label range will also be expanded by 400 products, taking the total to 1,000.
Alex Gourlay, executive chair of Holland and Barrett, said: "Our retail performance continues to outperform the UK and Netherlands high streets and compares strongly against other European countries.
"We are energised by the momentum we've built and excited for the opportunities ahead.
"I could not be happier with the ongoing performance of the business or prouder of our colleagues who have been at the heart of delivering this strong growth."
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% to 15% 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 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.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms also 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."
The Sun asked Holland and Barrett to comment.
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