Latest news with #outdoorretail
CBC
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
MEC is Canadian-owned again. What does that mean for the store's future?
MEC CEO Peter Hlynsky discusses the company's return to Canadian ownership after five years being under the U.S. private equity, and what fans of the outdoor retail store can look forward to in the coming years.
The Sun
17-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Major outdoor retailer with 300 branches to shut store in 24 hours with ‘everything must go' sale still in place
A MAJOR outdoor retailer with 300 branches will shut a store in just 24 hours. The Trespass store in Aylesbury, located in the Friars Square Shopping Centre, will shut for good on May 18. 1 The news will come as a blow to locals who in the past described the store as "absolutely fabulous". One shopper said staff always take "the time to ensure customers are well looked after & accurately informed". While another said: "Great service from the team in Aylesbury! Great products and quality. From shirts and boots to all weather gear. Wouldn't go anywhere else". Others have branded the move a "shame" as they grapple with another store leaving the high street. One said: 'It's a shame – we've bought hiking gear and waterproofs here for years. Not sure where we'll go now.' The shop is one of several across the country being axed by the outdoor clothing brand, which is scaling back due to falling customer numbers. In 2023, Trespass confirmed six closures, and by 2024, at least 12 more shops had shut, including sites in Coventry, Norwich, and Middlesbrough, the latter of which had only opened two years earlier. Ahead of its closure the outdoor store has launched a closing down sale to help shift stock. Shoppers have just one more day to enjoy the discounts before it pulls the shutters for good. Beloved department store chain shutting more locations with clearance sales on now until final May 25 deadline It is not the first store locals have had to wave goodbye to in recent times. Garden centre giant Dobbies closed its branch in Aylesbury a few months back . In March, a Marshall Motor Group's site in Aylesbury also shuttered. OTHER RETAIL CLOSURES Beales, one of Britain's oldest department stores, has launched a closing down sale before it shuts its last remaining shop after more than 140 years. The company will shut its branch in Poole's Dolphin Centre on May 31. The sale includes fashion, furniture, gifts and cosmetics, being sold for up to 70% off. Elsewhere, high street fashion chain New Look has begun to close stores as it scales back its UK footprint. It is understood to be shutting nearly 100 stores - equivalent to around a quarter of its 364 shops. Stores in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, St Austell, Cornwall and Porth, Rhondda Cynon Taf have launched closing down sales. Reports suggest that the company has been forced to accelerate the pace of store closures due to tax changes in the Autumn Budget. 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 shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April. A survey of more than 4,800 firms 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."
