Huge tech brand is shutting down its only UK store in iconic location within days
A MAJOR tech brand is closing down its only UK store from an iconic London location in a matter of days.
The company had already closed almost all its retail destinations globally, leaving just a flagship London spot and another in New York.
Microsoft opened its 21,000-square-foot store right on Oxford Circus in summer 2019 – and just a stone’s throw from rival Apple‘s Regent Street store.
It served as the first and only UK retail spot for the tech giant.
Little-after, Microsoft decided to shutdown 83 stores worldwide in 2020 as a result of coronavirus.
The UK and New York sites were the only two saved from the chop.
But the locations were revamped into “experience centres” where people could try out the firm’s gadgets and latest tech, such as the Xbox, HoloLens headsets and Surface laptops.
The UK Microsoft Experience Centre was also home to special gaming events and was used to hold business meetings too.
However, the company is planning to close the location down for good in February.
In doing so, Microsoft is ending its lease on the building early.
“To better align with its focus on digital growth, Microsoft has decided to exit the lease at the Microsoft Experience Centre in London early,” a spokesperson told The Sun.
“We regularly review our locations and our workforce to ensure we are aligning to market opportunities and make changes to meet the demands of the business.”
This means New York will be the last physical consumer facing space for Microsoft across the world.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
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.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has 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.”