‘Ghost town’ fears as high street chain with 240 branches to close another store permanently
A MAJOR high street games retailer with 240 branches is gearing up to close one of its sites.
Game in Huntingdon High Street, Cambridgeshire, is set to close pull the shutters down for the final time in the New Year.
The closure is set to take place on January 14, according to local news reports.
The Sun approached Frasers Group, which owns Game, to confirm the date that the branch will close and for comment.
Shoppers have reacted online to the news that the store will close.
One said: “Terrible News! Huntingdon high street is awful, nothing to entice you into the town.”
Another added: “VERY disappointing, we visit and purchase regularly. Such a loss to the already diminishing high street!”
A third wrote: “Ghost town, empty shops will no doubt be sold to developers to build flats.”
And a fourth cried: “It’s a shame been using this place for over ten years.”
It comes after “store closing” signs appeared in Game in Rugby, Warwickshire.
Signs were also spotted at a Game branch in Nuneaton just months ago.
It’s unclear when the store plans to close for the final time.
The retailer also pulled down the shutters on its branch on Commercial Street, Newport, Wales, on October 18.
However, it reopened inside the Sports Direct unit on the corner of the same street just two days later.
In June this year, closure signs were seen in the windows of a Game branch in Braehead, Scotland, as it geared up to relocate to a nearby Sports Direct unit.
Game was bought out by business magnate Mike Ashley’s then Sports Direct in June 2019 as part of a £52million deal.
But by January 2020 it had announced plans to close 40 of its more than 300 stores across the UK.
As of today, there are over 240 Game stores nationwide. You can find your nearest by using the store locator on its website.
It comes as Sports Direct, part of Mike Ashley‘s now-named Frasers Group, relocates two stores this autumn in Norwich and Newcastle.
House of Fraser has closed four stores this year too, including in Cardiff and Solihull.
Which other retailers are closing stores?
Game, House of Fraser and Sports Direct aren’t the only retailers to be closing stores in the UK.
Several others have been hit hard in recent years, particularly on the high street, which has been suffering as consumers increasingly turn to online retail.
High inflation since 2022 has seen households’ budgets squeezed too meaning they’ve got less expendable cash.
That, combined with high energy and wage costs, has seen a number of businesses forced to close stores.
In July, Boots Pharmacy said it would be closing 300 branches as part of plans to consolidate its portfolio.
Meanwhile, a number of retailers have crashed into administration, including Cath Kidston, Paperchase, M&Co and most notably Wilko.
It’s not just retailers closing locations either – a number of high street banks and building societies have been shutting branches in the UK.
A lot of bankers can do the majority of tasks online now and have less need to visit a physical site.
But it’s not all bad news as a number of retailers have been expanding too.
Supermarket chain Iceland has been opening stores, with some under the Iceland Local brand.
Primark, Poundland and B&M have all been growing their portfolios too.
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