Legendary shoe chain with over 300 branches to shut ANOTHER ‘superb’ store in weeks following a string of closures
A LEGENDARY shoe shop with over 300 branches is gearing up to shut down one of its stores.
Clarks has announced the closure of yet another location within weeks.
The footwear chain is pulling down the shutters on its branch in Fore Street, Bodmin.
Clarks confirmed the site, labelled “superb” by shoppers, will be shutting at the beginning of June.
The retailer thanked both shoppers and staff for their support over the years, according to local news reports.
Locals in the area will be particularly devastated by the news of the closure.
Google Reviews for the branch are glowing, with shoppers praising both the staff and the selection.
One said: “Went into Bodmin store today for some work shoes and Anne and all the staff were very helpful and very friendly highly appreciated their help really recommend this store.”
Another wrote: “Superb service from the staff at the Bodmin store this afternoon, honest advice and nothing too much trouble.
“The trainers I purchased were very stylish and a bargain for the price.”
A third commented: “Visited this shop whilst on holiday. Exceptional service.
“They managed to hunt down a pair of shoes we desperately needed that were from last season from another branch and arranged for them to be sent to our local branch.”
A fourth hailed: “Love this shop! All the staff are incredibly helpful, we’ve been there a couple of times and each time the experience has been a positive pleasure.”
It’s not all doom and gloom because the chain will still be in other Cornish towns, with nearby stores in St Austell and Truro.
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.
OTHER CLARKS CLOSURES
It’s not the only Clarks shop to shut in recent months, with more on the way too.
Clarks is pulling down the shutters on its branch in Stroud, Gloucestershire, on June 10, a company spokesperson confirmed.
The store in the town’s high street will close for good this summer with the staff undergoing “consultation”.
Clarks shut down its location on Marlborough’s High Street on April 22, leaving locals without a dedicated shoe shop in the area.
So far in 2024, Clarks has also closed or announced it’s shutting the following stores:
- Grove Shopping Centre, Witham – January 13, 2024
- Saddlers Shopping Centre, Walsall – February 10, 2024
- East Grinstead – March 24, 2024
- Abingdon, Oxfordshire – April 22, 2024
- Marlborough High Street – April 22, 2024
- Maidenhead – June 2024
Which Clarks stores closed in 2022 and 2023?
A raft of Clarks stores brought down their shutters for good in 2022 and 2023, including:
- Kent in Ashford – end of 2022
- Gillingham, end of 2022
- Murraygate, Dundee – July 25, 2023
- Fareham shopping centre, Hampshire – August 5, 2023
- High Street, Inverness – end of September, 2023
- Grimsby – end of October, 2023
- Newport Retail Park – November, 2023
- Riverside Shopping Centre, Norwich – November, 2023
- Westwood Cross Shopping – mid November, 2023
- High Street, Newcastle – by end of 2023
- Bicester Village, Oxfordshire – December 31, 2023
- The Bridges Shopping Centre, Sunderland – date unknown
Which 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 fell into administration and announced the closure of many of its 200 stores.
Almost 500 staff are set to lose their jobs after 75 stores were earmarked for closure.
Plus, Ted Baker fell into administration in March 2024 too, with 15 stores having shut by April 19.
Other retailers such as Iceland, Boots and Matalan have been slimming down the number of stores they have on the high street.
Just this spring Boots is 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.
Retailers closing stores in 2024
RETAILERS have been hit by soaring inflation and a downturn in spending due to the cost of living crisis.
High energy costs are a move to shopping online are also taking their toll.
While some high street shops have closed due to businesses opening up in different locations such as larger retail parks.
Shops may also close due to a number of other reasons, such as rising rents.
We explain which retailers are closing in 2024:
- Argos – The brand announced plans to close 100 standalone UK branches last year as it looks to move away from the high street and focus on expanding its presence in supermarkets.
- B&Q – The chain has over 300 shops across the UK, with two stores closing this year due to leases not being renewed. It has plans to open more in 2024 too.
- Boots – The health and beauty chain announced that it would be closing 300 stores last July. Closures are ongoing and this will see the retailer’s estate reduced from 2,200 to 1,900 shops.
- Clintons – Clintons mulled plans to close 38 shops in a bid to avoid insolvency late last year. We’ve listed the stores affected.
- Costa Coffee – The caffeine giant has around 2,000 sites nationwide, so chances are you’ll have one near you. The chain has shut the doors to dozens of its sites recently. We’ve revealed which stores are due to close this year.
- Iceland – The supermarket has more than 900 stores but closed nearly two dozen sites in 2023, and more selected shops are due to shut.
- Lidl – The supermarket, which has 950 stores, is changing up shop locations, which has meant that some stores have to close. But the retailer is also looking to open 12 new supermarkets.
- M&S – M&S, which runs 405 stores across the country, has been closing a string of branches across the country in a blow for shoppers. It’s not all bad news, though, because the chain also has big plans to open dozens of new shops as well.
- Trespass – The firm announced in July last year that it was closing six branches, but more are on the way.
- WHSmith – The retail giant, which runs over 1,100 stores, has shuttered eight stores since March 2023, but more are coming.
Which retailers are opening stores?
Several other retailers and hospitality venues have plans to expand.
Superdrug has plans to swing the shutters up on 25 new branches in the coming months.
Beer giant Heineken announced plans to invest £39million to help reopen 62 previously shuttered British pubs.
Aldi has announced that it will open 35 new UK stores.
The openings form part of Aldi‘s long-term target of 1,500 stores in the UK.
The supermarket is set to invest £550million in expanding its UK footprint this year alone.
Aldi said each new store opening will create around 40 new jobs on average.
Asda has been opening hundreds of convenience stores in recent months as it looks to rival major players Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
B&M plans to open “not less than” 45 brand new stores across the UK in each of the next two consecutive years.
The parent company of Bonmarché, Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) and Peacocks, Purepay Retail Limited, has said it wants to open 100 new high street stores over the next 18 months.
It has yet to give the exact locations where it will open the 100 stores or when they will open.
One of the UK’s favourite bakery chains, Greggs, has exclusively revealed to The Sun plans to open more outlet branches by the end of 2025.
Home Bargains, which was running just under 600 branches as of last June, has said it wants to “eventually have between 800 and 1,000 retail outlets open”.
The major discounter has stopped short of saying when it wants to reach the 1,000 store target, however.
Primark is also opening new branches and investing and renovating more than a dozen of its existing shops.
Screwfix is set to open 40 new stores nationwide as its owner, Kingfisher, seeks to expand the DIY brand’s national presence.
The brand opened two new stores in March, and a further three new shops will open this month.
Tesco has revealed plans to open 70 more stores across the UK over the next year as part of major expansion plans.
WHSmith has turned its focus to the travel side of its business, with plans to open new sites in airports, railway stations and hospitals.
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