Such a shame’ cry shoppers as Dobbies Garden Centre set to to close in just a matter of months – see the full list
DOBBIES will shutter one of its sites in Bristol in just a matter of months, devasting shoppers.
Its Little Dobbies store in Clifton is one of the 17 sites the retailer has marked for closure as part of a restructuring plan.
Dobbies will also work with landlords to seek temporary rent reductions at a further nine sites.
The business began a financial overhaul back in August, which it warned would lead to shop closures.
Dobbies has many stores across the South West of England, but it has been confirmed that its location in Clifton, Bristol could now close.
The news has devasted shoppers, with one describing the move as “very sad”.
Another local said the decision to shutter the site was “such a shame”.
While a third said: “A shame that any shops have to close, especially that gardening became more popular during and following lockdown.”
It comes as Bristol locals have had to wave goodbye to a number of retailers in recent years.
House of Fraser shut its site at the Cabot Circus shopping centre back in August, and The Guild department store closed in May.
The full list of Dobbies stores set to close are:
- Altrincham
- Antrim
- Gloucester
- Gosforth
- Harlestone Heath
- Huntingdon
- Inverness
- King’s Lynn
- Pennine
- Reading
- Stratford-upon-Avon
Six Little Dobbies, which are smaller branches selling houseplants located locally rather than out of town, are set to close in these areas:
- Cheltenham
- Chiswick
- Clifton
- Richmond
- Stockbridge
- Westbourne Grove
If the restructuring plan is approved the 17 sites will close by the end of the year.
They will continue to operate as normal until the plan is approved.
The nine sites where its seeking rent reductions from landlords have not been named.
A spokesperson previously told The Sun: “Subject to the restructuring plan being successfully approved, we expect the affected sites to cease trading by the end of the year.
“Thereafter, Dobbies will operate 60 stores and continue to play a key role in the market, working constructively with stakeholders and suppliers, and having an active and committed role in the communities in which it’s based.”
The garden centre chain, which was bought by investment firm Ares Management last year, fell to a £105.2 million pre-tax loss in the year to March 2023, against a £7 million loss a year earlier, according to its most-recently filed company accounts.
Restructuring plans are often launched by businesses when they find themselves in financial difficulty to help shore up extra costs.
It comes as many retailers are struggling to keep their heads above water.
High inflation coupled with a squeeze on consumers’ finances has meant people have less money to spend in the shops.
Garden centres and home improvement businesses also boomed during the pandemic when customers were stuck at home.
But customers have been forced to cut back on spending since.
Back in August, Homebase announced that 10 of its stores would close and be transformed into Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
Homebase’s owner, Hilco Capital, is preparing to sell the company.
The retailer has closed 106 stores since it was taken over by Hilco Capital in 2018.
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.