A MASSIVE supermarket chain with 2,500 branches across the UK will close within hours leaving customers reeling.
Shoppers in Honiton, East Devon, are preparing to bid farewell to their local Co-op supermarket as it closes its doors for the final time tomorrow, March 15, according to The Midweek Herald.
The closure will now leave many employees without jobs.
On February, 8, the staff at the Co-op set up a stall outside the store, inviting shoppers to sign cards to show their appreciation for the workers.
Nearly 200 customers took up the opportunity to write thank-you cards to the store’s staff.
One told The Midweek Herald: “I used to work at the Co-op, and in fact, I met my partner Mark there.”
Others took to social media to show how gutted they were with the permanent closure of the store.
Another person wrote on Facebook: “We have to use the shops in Honiton. Use them or lose them.”
A third local added simply: “Another empty shop.”
Honiton and Sidmouth MP Richard Foord waded into the row, saying locals have written to him worried about the Co-op’s closure.
And it’s not the only one shutting up shop – another branch in Oswestry, Shropshire, is set to close in July.
Meanwhile, a Nottingham site shut for good last November after 50 years of trading.
Central Co-op, which runs separately from the Co-operative Group, has also been axing stores, shutting 16 since November.
Branches in Leicester, Dudley, Broughton, Cromer, and Peterborough have all disappeared.
Whilst, another Co-op in Oxfordshire is due to be replaced by a Morrisons’ store.
The Burchester Place branch in Banbury, Oxfordshire closed for the final time on March 5.
Shoppers were stunned to find a notice in the window that read: “We apologise for the inconvenience and would like to thank our customers for their continued support.”
The shop will be transformed into a Morrisons Local and Midcounties Co-op staff will be transferred to the new store.
It has not yet been revealed when the Morrisons Local will be opening.
But it’s not all doom and gloom – the Co-Op has opened five new stores and is giving 35 others a makeover, along with 15 funeral homes.
Co-Op is not the only retailer that has had to close stores, with M&S closing one of its stores in a matter of weeks.
The posh nosh retailer is closing it Foodhall store in Wellington Street, Leeds, later this month.
The branch will shut on March 22, with signs up outside the store advertising the closure.
HIGH STREET WOES
Once the beating heart of British shipping, 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.
