Beloved hardware store to close after 87 years on the high street as it reduces prices on stock
A MUCH-LOVED hardware store has announced it is closing within days in a blow for the high street.
The small business is pulling down its shutters after first opening 87 years ago.
Mortens in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, is shutting for good at the end of the year after it was “unable to continue”.
The hardware store and ironmongery has launched a clearance sale across all its stock.
The owners of the independent shop posted on Facebook: “It is with great sadness that we announce Mortens will be closing at the end of this year.
“When we took over the business, we did so knowing it would be tough with the retail climate as it is today.
“However, we were full of hope and confidence that along with our amazing staff we could make it work. Unfortunately, this has proved not to be the case.”
Locals and shoppers have been left devastated after finding out the owners are permanently closing the shop.
One, posting on Facebook, said: “An Ilkley institution. Very sad.”
Another commented: “So sad and shocked to read this. You will be greatly missed.”
A third dejected shopper added: “I’m honestly gutted…end of an era. I used you for 45 years.”
A fourth simply put it: “Devastated to hear this.”
Mortens opened in 1937, starting off in a small unit in the town centre before expanding into the store it is today.
The business initially sold just hardware, but today stocks everything from kitchenware to houseware, bathroom accessories and garden products.
At one point, the family-run store sold roughly 30,000 different products.
INDEPENDENT STORES STRUGGLING
Small businesses have struggled in 2024 in the face of changing shopper behaviour and reduced footfall to stores.
This week, the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA) said shop owners had weathered one of their most challenging years.
Andrew Goodacre, chief executive officer, said: “2024 has presented unprecedented challenges for independent retailers.
“Consumer spending on non-food items has declined significantly, while persistent footfall problems and fragile consumer confidence have impacted high streets nationwide.”
Mr Goodacre added smaller businesses were struggling in an “increasingly competitive” market, with larger chains able to massively discount stock, and for longer periods.
The independent retailer sector has also been hit with an increase in in-store crime.
BIRA’s latest survey revealed 78% of businesses had been targeted by thefts in the past 12 months and that the frequency and severity of theft incidents had risen.
Research from PriceWaterhouse Coopers earlier this year revealed 38 retail stores, leisure venues or service outlets closed each day in the first half of 2024 – up from 36 in the first six months of 2023.
High streets up and down the country have seen stores close.
Peter Jones, in Wakefield, recently said it would shut after more than 60 years.
Dancers, in Halesowen, closed earlier this month after opening for the first time over a century ago.
More widely, bosses across the retail sector are warning they may have to increase prices on products following the Government’s Autumn Budget.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed employer National Insurance contributions will be hiked for businesses from 13.8% to 15% from April.
Fears have also been raised the hike in employer NICs will hit workers as businesses stop hiring new staff, don’t offer pay rises or even let staff go or close stores to cut costs.
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.
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