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Major Supermarket With 900 Branches To Close Store Tomorrow Following String Of Closures
A MAJOR supermarket chain with 900 UK branches is set to shut one of its stores tomorrow following a string of closures.
Iceland will pull down the shutters of its branch at the Derbion Shopping Centre in Derby this weekend.
Paul EdwardsIceland is closing a store in Derby[/caption]The store is relocating to a unit in nearby London Road, just over one mile away, with the site opening in May.
Either way, shoppers have been left disappointed after finding out the Derbion shopping centre branch will close its doors for good.
Posting online, one said: “Derby city centre is dire.”
Another, left concerned over the location of the new shop being too far from public transport, commented: “A lot further for people to carry there shopping to the bus station.”
The Derbion Shopping Centre Iceland closure comes after the budget supermarket shut a string of branches in recent months.
The retailer shut its Welling branch in London, on February 1, with no reason given for the closure.
However, a spokesperson said staff from the branch were offered job opportunities at surrounding stores “where possible”.
A slew of other stores have shuttered since the New Year, including a location in Borehamwood and another in Exeter last month.
It’s worth bearing in mind, it’s common practice for retailers to shut stores in certain areas and open them in others based on demand.
For example, Iceland has plans to open 20 Iceland and Food Warehouse stores before the end of April.
The Food Warehouse is owned by the Iceland Foods Group and its first store opened in 2014.
The branches are larger than traditional Iceland stores and usually found in retail parks.
OTHER SHOP CLOSURES
Plenty of other retailers are closing stores across the high street as households lean more towards online shopping and amid high business rates.
Soaring inflation in recent years has also dented shoppers’ pockets.
The Centre for Retail Research’s latest analysis suggests 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, shut for good in 2024.
Of those, 11,341 were independent shops while 2,138 were shut by larger retailers.
The data also showed over half the stores that closed last year were shut due to the store or retailer going through insolvency proceedings.
This is when formal measures are taken to deal with tackling a business‘s debt.
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.
Retailers are shutting stores in 2025 too.
Major chain Select is closing 35 branches within weeks in the latest blow to the high street.
The retailer, owned by Turkish entrepreneur Cafer Mahiroğlu, has been quietly reducing its store portfolio since January.
But dozens more will close for good across February and March, The Sun exclusively revealed yesterday.
New Look is also looking to ramp up its store closure programme ahead an upcoming hike to employer National Insurance Contributions.
Approximately a quarter of the retailer’s 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire, equating to about 91 sites.
Meanwhile this week, Quiz Clothing plunged into administration, with over 20 shops set to close.
All in all, the Centre for Retail Research estimates around 17,350 shops will close this year.
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