A SHOE shop loved parents is set to close today as customers bemoan ‘yet another loss.’
Thousands of parents have all flocked to the Clarks in Abingdon, Oxfordshire over the years to kit out the kids with new shoes.
But the shop pulled down its shutters yesterday, April 22.
The member of staff told Oxford Mail: “This shop was run as a franchise – I have worked for the franchise for at least 20 years and the shop has been open for much longer than that.”
Locals in the area have expressed their shock over yet another high street closure.
“It is disgraceful,” one seethed.
“No shoe shop in Abingdon.”
A second chimed in: “Such a shame, sad for the great staff in there, who always have a chat.
“Its obvious isn’t it – the more we shop online – the more high street shops will close!”
Some of the biggest retailers in the UK have been forced to withdraw their presence on the high street over recent years.
Experts have pointed to a perfect storm of factors including price inflation, reduced spending, economic uncertainty and the war in Ukraine.
Shoppers have been spending less money on the high street, browsing but not buying as retailers struggle with rising costs.
Chains and independent stores alike have all suffered. In particular many independent restaurants and bars lost too much money during lockdown and have failed to recover their losses, despite help from the government.
What other stores have we lost recently?
We have seen several big losses in the last 12 months including popular discounter Wilko and stationary brand Paperchase.
More recently, health and beauty chain The Body Shop has fallen into administration and announced the closure of many of its 200 stores.
Almost 500 staff are set to lose their jobs after 75 stores have been earmarked for closure over the next few weeks.
We have the full list of branches that are set to close – is your local affected?
Other retailers such as Iceland, Boots and Matalan have been slimming down the number of stores they have on the high street.
Just this month Boots has announced that it will be closing a total of nine sites, as part of its wider plans to get rid of 300 locations.
These closures will see the retailer’s total shops reduced from 2,200 to 1,900.
This has upset a lot of locals in the affected towns, however, the health and beauty chain has said where stores are closing there is an alternative shop less than three miles away.
Last year Argos started to put in place its plans to reduce the number of standalone stores and focus on opening more locations inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
It closed 42 UK shops, including all 34 of its branches in the Republic of Ireland last June.
Marks and Spencer is another retailer that has been making changes to its store portfolio.
In 2022, M&S announced that it would be shutting 67 “lower productivity” stores as part of the 110 stores it had already earmarked for closure.
However, it was not all bad news for M&S shoppers as where some stores closed, others opened up in new locations.
In November last year, nine new openings happened, which included six new stores plus three store renewals.
Is it all bad news?
The answer to that is no, some retailers are expanding despite the difficult trading conditions.
Primark recently confirmed plans to open new branches and invest and renovate more than a dozen of its existing shops.
Meanwhile, Asda is massively expanding its portfolio of smaller Express stores, with plans to open 110 new stores.
Popular discounter B&M also said it had plans to open 17 new sites in 2024 with some set to open imminently.
Also earlier this year WHSmith confirmed it would be opening up 15 new shops, but they would not be on the high street.
We have the full list of chains opening stores in 2024 – see if one is coming to a high street near you.
Why are retailers closing stores?
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.
The high street has seen a whole raft of closures over the past year, and more are coming.
The number of jobs lost in British retail dropped last year, but 120,000 people still lost their employment, figures have suggested.
Figures from the Centre for Retail Research revealed that 10,494 shops closed for the last time during 2023, and 119,405 jobs were lost in the sector.
It was fewer shops than had been lost for several years, and a reduction from 151,641 jobs lost in 2022.
The centre’s director, Professor Joshua Bamfield, said the improvement is “less bad” than good.
Although there were some big-name losses from the high street, including Wilko, many large companies had already gone bust before 2022, the centre said, such as Topshop owner Arcadia, Jessops and Debenhams.
“The cost-of-living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend,” Prof Bamfield said.
“Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult.”
Alongside Wilko, which employed around 12,000 people when it collapsed, 2023’s biggest failures included UK Flooring Direct, Planet Organic and Tile Giant.
The Centre for Retail Research said most stores were closed because companies were trying to reorganise and cut costs rather than the business failing.
However, experts have warned there will likely be more failures this year as consumers keep their belts tight and borrowing costs soar for businesses.
Last year, around 14% of insolvencies were in retail businesses, according to official figures.
