Huge chain with over 500 shops launches massive closing down sale as shoppers say ‘its another nail in the coffin’
A HUGE high street chain is shutting up shop – and there are mega bargains to be had before the doors close for good.
Sports Direct is the latest retailer to axe a branch, with its Newmarket Road store in Cambridge set to shut on April 18.
Shoppers can bag huge discounts on top-brand sports gear, trainers, and clothing before the shutters come down.
The store has launched a massive closing down sale, slashing prices to clear stock before it disappears for good.
An eagle-eyed bargain hunters rushed to spread the word on social media
The shopper posted in a Facebook group: “Sports Direct on Newmarket Rd is closing down, 18/04. Lots of bargains in store!.”
One person, furious with the news, wrote: “Another nail in the coffin for concrete Cambridge.”
Another simply added: “Losing all our stores!.”
But not everyone was as bothered, with one dismissing the sale as “nothing worth running out the door for”.
The closure will now leave many employees without jobs.
Over the last few years, the popular high street sports store has shut a number of its branches.
The bargain retailer closed its store in the Central Six Retail Park, Coventry, at the end of January 2024.
It also pulled shutters down for good at its branch in Stroud, Gloucestershire last March.
Whilst its store on Octagon Parade in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, also closed for the final time during that period.
HIGH STREET WOES
Once the beating heart of British shopping, high street retailers have been battered by the rise of online shopping, with footfall dwindling.
The cost-of-living crisis and soaring inflation have only made things worse, as cash-strapped shoppers cut back on spending.
Now, many stores that once welcomed a steady stream of customers are closing their doors for good.
In some cases, landlords are either unwilling or unable to invest in keeping shops open, further speeding up the closures.
For now, residents will have to seek out other options for their shopping as the future of the store remains uncertain.
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.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April 2025, 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.
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.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko 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.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.