Popular shopping centre with shops including Argos and WHSmith to shut for good in just hours after 33 years
A POPULAR shopping centre is set to shut up shop in just HOURS, in another blow to the high street.
Locals are making their final trips to St Giles Centre in Elgin, Scotland after bosses chose to pull the plug.
A bitter dispute over business rates with Moray council triggered the closure, according to BBC Scotland News.
The centre will pull down its shutters for the final time on January 20.
The shopping centre has struggled in recent years following the closure of several large retailers.
Popular brands including Monsoon, Mountain Warehouse and Superdrug all shut up shop, leaving patches of the centre eerily empty.
However, locals still enjoyed shopping in major stores like Argos, Waterstones and WH Smith.
Bosses have revealed that the shock closure was the result of “severe financial challenges” amid increased costs across the board.
It comes after Moray Council said it had “exhausted all reasonable avenues of support” back in November, but there was still a “significant sum of arrears”.
“The company is disappointed at the closure, however after taking professional advice this difficult decision was the only option available.”
Shoppers have been left gutted by the news and many have taken to social media to share their disappointment.
Posting on Facebook, one person said: “No way! This is incredibly sad, I have been going in there my entire life”.
Another added: “Shame for all the workers who are employed in the stores within the centre and not much notice for them, especially in January… will be a real shame to see it close”.
Someone else wrote: “This is devastating. The loss of jobs alone and the loss of shops in the area… the effect on the area will be huge”.
RETAIL SECTOR STRUGGLES
The retail sector has struggled in recent years as high inflation coupled with a squeeze on shoppers’ finances has seen people with less money to spend in shops.
An increasing trend towards online shopping has seen retailers struggle for footfall through stores as well.
A number of major chains have fallen into administration in recent years.
Wilko, Ted Baker and The Body Shop have all plunged into administration but some stores have been saved in rescue deals.
Pressure on the sector is not expected to abate any time soon either.
The Government announced in its Budget employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) will be hiked in April from 13.8% to 15%.
Fears have been raised the hike will be passed onto shoppers in the form of higher prices and job cuts.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”