3 days ago
Iconic homeware chain with 58 stores to close branch in DAYS in a blow to shoppers
A POPULAR homeware chain is set to shut one of its high street stores in days in a blow to shoppers.
Lakeland is closing its Broad Street store in Reading on August 8, the store has confirmed to The Sun.
Signs in the shop window say that the store is closing and everything must go.
Disappointed customers shared the news on Facebook, with one saying: 'Oh nooo! I love Lakeland products! I hate being forced to have to shop online for my favourite items of kitchen and homeware.'
They added: 'Reading used to be a vibrant shopping centre which I loved visiting, but not anymore!'
Another said: 'What? I love that shop. There's going to be nothing left soon.'
Meanwhile, a third commented: 'It's sad when shops have to close especially in my home town Reading.'
Lakeland has 58 shops across the UK, employs around 1,000 staff and is based in Windermere in the Lake District.
The popular chain sells thousands of homeware and kitchen products including spatulas, food containers and baking suppliers.
But the chain's future was thrown into question this year as it searched for a new owner.
The company began talks with investor Hilco Capital in April in a deal that would provide a new funding package to support the struggling retailer.
Lakeland had been searching for tens of millions of pounds of funding to navigate difficult economic conditions, including the increase in national insurance costs for employers.
It also hired financial advisors earlier this year to explore its options.
The family-run business was created in 1964 and is now spearheaded by three sons of the founder Alan Rayner.
The brothers chose advisory company Teneo to help them navigate a potential sale back in January.
Months of discussion with various potential buyers followed, including Modella Capital, which this year acquired WHSmith's high street 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.
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.
The Reading closure follows the shuttering of another popular store last month.
The Lakeland shop in Syon Park, west London, closed its doors for good on June 6.
Meanwhile, the store in the Eastgate Shopping Centre, Inverness, was shut down and relocated to the Simpsons Garden Centre in mid-March.
Lakeland did not give a reason for the move.
At the time customers described the decision as a big loss for the shopping centre.
