Huge luxury retailer with more than 90 UK stores suddenly closes city shopping centre location
A LUXURY retailer has left locals gutted after they pulled the plug on one of its locations.
Jeweller and watch expert Goldsmiths shut up shop at its store inside The Broadway shopping centre in Bradford.
Alerting customers of the closure, the company left a notice which read: “Unfortunately, the Goldsmiths showroom has now closed.
“For any enquiries, please contact Goldsmiths White Rose on 0113 271 3125 or call our customer service team on 0800 085 8250 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm).
“May we take this opportunity to thank you for your valued custom.”
Goldsmiths waved in punters for the first time at the Bradford shopping centre in November 2023.
Rising costs, a shift to online shopping and a dip in consumer confidence have all impacted retailers, with even established names shuttering sites.
Well-known brands such as Wilko and Paperchase have collapsed, while many others continue to scale back operations in a bid to reduce costs.
Homebase was sold out of administration and has seen many stores close.
While Boots is set to shut ten stores in the coming weeks as part of wider plans to reduce its UK portfolio by 300 sites.
Meanwhile JD Sports has confirmed it will shut down 50 stores next year.
The retailer, which has 4,850 stores across 36 countries, has not confirmed how many of the closures will be in the UK.
Similarly, last month, Essential Vintage told followers on social that it would be closing down after they had been “priced out” because of bigger players in the market such as Vinted.
Red Menswear in Chatham in Medway, Kent, shut for the final time on Saturday, March 29, after selling men’s clothing since 1999.
Shoezone, located on Devonshire Road, has confirmed it’s final day of trading will be May 13.
And New Look bosses made the decision to axe nearly 100 branches as they battle challenges linked to Autumn Budget tax changes.
Approximately a quarter of the retailer’s 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire.
This equates to about 91 stores, with a significant impact on New Look’s 8,000-strong workforce.
It’s understood the latest drive to accelerate closures is driven by the upcoming increase in National Insurance contributions for employers.
The move, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October, is expected to hit retailers hard – and the British Retail Consortium has predicted these changes will create a £2.3billion bill for the sector.
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.