Latest news with #retailcrisis
The Sun
4 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Original Factory Shop launches closing down sale at another store – see the full list of locations at risk
THE Original Factory Shop is set to call time on another store with a number of sites at risk of closure. A branch in Middlewich is now the latest store to be marked for closure. 1 A closing down sale has been launched with up to 50% off some lines in the store. Locals have branded the closure in the Cheshire town as "another blow" for the high street. A concerned shopper warned there would be "nothing left" in the area as "everything is closing down". While another said: "Your store was a highlight of my days during a really tough time when I lived in Middlewich." And a third added: "This shop will be greatly missed." The exact date of when the store has not been confirmed yet. but The Sun will update this piece when we find out more. Up to 11 TOFS stores are already to set to close this month, including sites across Worcestershire, Durham and Cumbria . Meanwhile, another five stores across Nairn, Market Drayton, Troon, Blairgowrie and Castle Douglas have been placed up for sale. The Original Factory Shop has told The Sun that negotiations are ongoing with landlords - making it unclear whether these shops will remain open. It comes as part of a major restructuring carried out by new owner Modella Capital with a number of loss making stores having to close as result. Why are shops closing stores? A spokesperson told The Sun: "Closing stores is always a tough decision, and we are committed to keeping as many stores open as possible. "This is, however, dependent on successful negotiations with landlords as we strive to build a sustainable and successful business for the future." They added: "These negotiations are commercially sensitive and so we cannot comment on which stores are affected.' You can see the full list of store closures here: Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire - June 26 Perth - June 28 Chester Le Street, County Durham - June 28 Arbroath, Angus - June 28 Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire - June 28 Pershore, Worcestershire - June 28 Normanton, West Yorkshire - June 28 Peterhead, Aberdeenshire - June 28 Shaftesbury, Dorset - June 28 Staveley, Cumbria - July 12 Middlewich - TBC The following stores are also up for sale: Nairn Market Drayton Troon Blairgowrie Castle Douglas What's been happening with The Original Factory Shop? Private equity firm Modella bought The Original Factory Shop back in February and has since launched a restructuring effort to renegotiate rents at 88 TOFS stores. Modella is known for picking up struggling retailers, having also recently acquired Hobbycraft and WHSmith 's high street shops. It is set to rebrand all WHSmith high street stores to TGJones, and has brought in advisers to look at potential options for Hobbycraft. At the end of April, Modella drew up plans to initiate a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) for TOFS. Companies often use CVAs to prevent insolvency, which could otherwise result in store closures or the collapse of the entire business. They allow firms to explore different strategies such as negotiating reduced rent rates with landlords. TOFS previously told The Press and Journal that a "number of loss-making stores will have to close" as part of the restructuring. It said at the time: "Closing stores is always a tough decision and we are committed to keeping as many stores open as possible. "This is, however, dependent on successful negotiations with landlords as we strive to build a sustainable and successful business for the future." The Original Factory shop has already shuttered more than a dozen stores over the past 12 months. 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."
The Sun
16-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Big chain with over 200 shops to close branch within hours after big sale
A HUGE chain with more than 200 stores is set to close a popular branch within hours after its big sale. Warren James announced that its shop on the Andover outlet in the Chantry Centre will close for good tomorrow. 1 The closure is reportedly due to the branch's lease expiring. However, the chain has yet to explain why the popular store is closing down. Despite the closure announcement, shoppers were given one last chance to bag a bargain sparkle. Local council bosses have revealed that they're already looking to re-let the space. A spokesperson for Test Valley Borough Council, which owns and runs the shopping centre, admitted it was 'a shame' to see Warren James go, but insisted new tenants are always in the pipeline. They added that the centre has remained lively thanks to flexible leases, grants for independents and a mix of tenants keeping vacancy rates below the national average. Struggling with rising costs and reduced footfall over the past few years. Dozens of shops are set to close across the country before the end of the month in the latest blow to UK high streets. One of these includes Smiggle, known for its colourful, quirky pens, lunchboxes and school bags, which revealed it is shutting up shop at the Darwin Centre in Shrewsbury. Why are shops closing stores? Meanwhile, family business B.D Price, a beloved toy and bike store in Dudley, West Midlands, announced its closure after 160 years. Rising living costs, leaving shoppers with less cash to spend, and an increase in online shopping have battered retailers in recent years. In some cases, landlords are either unwilling or unable to invest in keeping shops open, further speeding up the closures. It comes after a huge fashion store with 250 branches across the UK is closing another branch. And a popular dessert chain with 30 locations has been forced to close shop after just six months. 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."
The Sun
16-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Major high street retailer to shut at popular shopping centre as huge closing down sale launched
A MAJOR high street chain is shutting one of its stores for good in a busy shopping centre — and launching a huge closing-down sale. Shoppers are gutted after finding out a popular Superdry store near Silverburn, just outside Glasgow, is set to close for good. 1 The store has slashed prices by 50 per cent to clear remaining stock. One disappointed shopper shared the news on Facebook, writing: 'For anyone near Silverburn, just outside Glasgow — Superdry are closing their store this Saturday. 50% off all stock.' However, another user later revealed the discount had jumped to a whopping 75 per cent. While some believe high street closures like this are now expected, others still express frustration at how quickly long-standing shops are disappearing. Similar cases across the UK have seen stores shut amid rising business rates and increasing pressure on employers. In Ipswich, the Trespass shop on Westgate Street has repeatedly put up 'closing down' posters, most recently this month, prompting debate among locals over whether it's genuinely closing or simply using a tactical sales approach. The Aylesbury branch, however, appears to be the real deal. Staff have reportedly told customers the final day of trading will be this Sunday, with all remaining stock being cleared out at discounted prices. This closure comes during a rough patch for British retail. Other high street names like Sports Direct, New Look, and WHSmith have also shut stores or announced downsizing in recent months. According to the British Retail Consortium, a mix of higher running costs, tax changes, and increased National Insurance contributions are placing a £2.3 billion burden on the retail sector, pushing more shops off the high street. 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." DEATH OF THE HIGH STREET Retailers have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis. High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going. However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector. The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April 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. Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes. Professor Bamfield has 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." 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.
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Spring break for M&S: Warm weather provides some relief as cyber attack debacle drags on, ALEX BRUMMER
Marks & Spencer's struggle with cyber attackers is showing no sign of abating. Indeed, the revelation that 'some personal customer information has been taken' will be deeply disturbing. There will be some reassurance from the group's declaration that usable card and payment details are safe. The firm wouldn't make such an announcement unless it was sure. Chief executive Stuart Machin and his team can be grateful for small mercies during the crisis first disclosed on April 21, over the Easter break. M&S customers, many of them also shareholders, are immensely loyal. A core has stuck with the group despite its travails over the last couple of decades convinced of its quality, trust, value and innovation. The other comfort is the weather. The company's embarrassment has coincided with the warmest and driest spring in memory. Empty shelves in food stores are as much about picnics, the beach and early barbecues as about supply chain hold-ups. Moreover, the good weather has seen people crowd into the stores for summer frocks and tops, T-shirts and shorts. Britain's changeable weather is often blamed for the ups and down of retail fortunes. Now it is working to its advantage. Ahead of the presentation of its first quarter results next week, M&S is keeping schtum about the impact on its finances of present problems. The 12 per cent drop in the share price over the last month tells its own story. Trade estimates suggest that the company is sacrificing more than £3million of income per day as a result of the attack. The informed view is that this number, based on previous online sales data, exaggerates the income damage as some online customers are choosing to shop in store instead. The ease with which M&S security and data was penetrated is deeply troubling. When M&S eventually gets on top of the problem someone, somewhere will have to take responsibility for a debacle which drags on. Taylor rules Extreme caution has been the Bank of England's default mode since it was so wrong on inflation after the pandemic and Russia's assault on Ukraine. Confidence was also sapped by Ben Bernanke's criticism of poor forecasting and the House of Lords's charge of 'group think' on the interest rate setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). It is encouraging to see external members of the MPC willing to challenge the caution. The newest member, Professor Alan Taylor, is emerging as a voice of sanity. The degree of disruption from the Trump tariffs may have eased since Liberation Day on April 2 following the 90-day standstill agreement with China. But there is nothing to suggest that China is fundamentally shifting its economic model with its hunger for Western technology and its mercantilist-driven, export-led model. The latest labour market and pay data show why the Bank's sclerotic approach to cutting rates is damaging. As the Labour government tightened fiscal policy, the case for loosening became obvious. Forward projections from the S&P Purchasing Managers Index and other forecasters, showing output subsiding, are too easily ignored. Last week's rate cut by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.25 per cent was inadequate. Taylor is right to advocate cutting rates more boldly in 'perilous' trade conditions. Film noir Britain's vibrant film, video and post-production industries are on edge in the wake of Donald Trump's threat of 100 per cent tariffs on overseas movie output. Trump claimed the industry in the US is dying. Levies on overseas producers would be taking a hammer to crack a nut. Better for the White House to listen to silver screen veterans Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone, Trump's appointed ambassadors to Hollywood. In a letter to the President, they suggest the White House tackle the problem by following the example of Canada and Britain, which offer tax incentives to movie makers. Let the cameras roll.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Photos in shuttered Ally store reveals grim voluntary administration reality as Australia faces 'aggressive' China threat
Retailer Ally was forced into a $10 sale marathon after the business was closed forever. (Source: Yahoo Finance Australia) The retail industry is facing a rocky future as consumer spending remains muted amid global uncertainty, interest rate decisions and the cost-of-living crisis. Several big-name retailers have recently gone bust or been plunged into administration after dominating the sector for years or even decades. Sanity, Godfreys, Rivers, Noni B, Alice McCall, Ally, and Jeanswest are some of those brands that have been forced to close, drastically shrink, or change how they operate. Yahoo Finance found a grim scene inside an Ally store in Sydney that shut when the retailer was ordered into liquidation and hundreds lost their jobs in March. The racks were full but the lights were off and doors of the store, inside Sydney's Central Park, were closed. So what happens to all of those clothes? Before they shut for good, they usually try to sell all of their items to recoup some costs and clear out their inventory. Jeanswest sold more than 53,000 pairs of jeans in the first week of a nationwide discounting campaign but Ally - which was launched in 2001 - had no such luck, despite sales as low as $10. "Eventually, all stores close and any remaining products are either donated to charity stores, or if sufficient volumes remain the voluntary administrator may attempt to sell those inventories to a retailer like TK Maxx," QUT consumer expert Professor Gary Mortimer told Yahoo Finance. An Ally store in Sydney's Central Park building had a flash sale before the doors were closed on the retailer forever. (Source: Yahoo Finance Australia) The consumer expert described TK Maxx's business model as "opportunistic" because the retailer usually pounces on buying and selling off-price merchandise. They receive their stock from a wide variety of places, whether they're from cancelled orders, inventory from closed businesses, or end-of-season products. Mortimer said in some cases, remnants can be packed up and sent to a central store for a flash sale but that was costly. "Retailers normally try to avoid this practice as transporting heavily discounted products only increases costs, thus losses," he said. Do you have a story? Email Why are so many retail stores collapsing in Australia? It's no secret that certain industries have been affected by the cost-of-living crisis and its effect on consumer spending. Food and beverage services is without a doubt the worst hit, with 9.3 per cent of businesses in this sector shutting down in the 12 months to February this year. Retail isn't far behind, with a 5.7 per cent closure rate. CreditorWatch chief economist Ivan Colhoun said many businesses were propped up during the pandemic thanks to government support and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) stopping its pursuit of tax debts.
