Outdoor clothing shop with over 300 branches launches closing down sale as store set to shut
AN OUTDOOR clothing shop with over 300 branches has launched a closing down sale as the store is set to shut.
Trespass is closing it’s store in St Johns Precinct, Liverpool, after signs were placed in the window.
It comes after other Trespass stores have closed recently in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, just after Easter and the Trespass store in Blackburn which shut its doors in January.
A closing down sign which has become notorious in UK shopping centres and highstreets appeared at the front of the store – offering customers discounts and telling them “everything must go”.
Trespass is known for selling ski-wear, waterproof jackets, fleeces, walking boots and other outdoor equipment and accessories.
Founded in the 1990s it has over 300 stores worldwide and over 1500 employees in the UK.
Earlier this year the outdoor retailer announced that it was closing six of its branches.
The cost of living crisis along with the rise of online shopping has meant that stores such as Trespass in Liverpool are struggling to keep the lights on.
Rising inflation on the ongoing energy crisis has also meant shoppers are no longer spending money like they used to.
The British Retail Consortium’s research found that over 6,000 stores have closed down for good in the last five years.
Shoppers have taken to social media to express their disappointment at the closure of the outdoor retailer in Liverpool.
Commenting on a Facebook post announcing the store’s closure one person wrote: “Another one bites the dust!!”
Another said: “So sad – good customer service from the lovely staff there.”
One added: “Another empty shop in Blackburn.”
While another wrote: “Could see that coming really, it’s sad.”
Trespass has been approached for comment.
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. 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.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase 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.