A new wave of store closures will plague Britons after a busy summer which saw businesses including Boots, Co-op, Poundland, B&M, Card Factory, B&Q and Peacocks close.

Since the arrival of autumn, so have other big iconic names, including Trespass, Game, Cineworld, Tesco, Wetherspoons and Marks and Spencer, which closed a long-standing branch a few days ago in Crawley.

The challenging high street landscape has been blamed for many closures, with retailers facing high rent rates and changing shopping habits.

These challenges have led to mass store closures, as revealed by PwC, which recorded 6,945 closures in the first six months of the year.

Although half of all net closures were concentrated in just three categories (pharmacies, pub chains and banks, department stores and supermarkets), they are also among the worst affected categories. This is evident in the upcoming closures as Co-op and House of Fraser prepare to lose branches from their store portfolio.

The iconic department store started as a small drapery store in Glasgow in 1849 and grew into one of the largest department stores in the United Kingdom.

Renowned for its offering of premium fashion, beauty, home and accessories brands, the brand peaked in 2018 with 59 stores, but this figure had almost halved by October 2023.

Shoppers near Bluewater Shopping Center in Kent are the latest to lose their local House of Fraser as it prepares to close its doors on November 27.

Fraser’s has operated a large unit over two floors in the Bluewater shopping center for 25 years.

In October 2023, Frasers Group CEO confirmed that all remaining House of Fraser stores would close or convert to Frasers.

Cooperative

Central England Co-op is independent of the Co-operative group but is part of the wider Co-operative movement which serves its members and customers.

However, 19 sites in central England are to be closed because they have been “financially unsustainable for some time”.

16 Co-op stores will be sold to Samy Limited, an independent convenience chain which currently operates 32 Budgens, Spar, Londis and Premier stores across the UK.

The three remaining branches (Cromer, Norfolk, Erdington in the West Midlands and Shepshed in Leicestershire) will be sold to B&M and reopened under the brand.

Closure of Central Co-op stores

• Barnby Dun, High Street – South Yorkshire
• Broughton, High Street – Northamptonshire
• Croft, Pochin Street – Leicestershire
• Desborough, Hilltop, Braybrooke Road – Northamptonshire
• Dudley, Overfield Road – West Midlands
• Eastwood, Nottingham Road – Nottinghamshire
• Enderby, Mill Lane – Leicestershire
• Kingstanding, Hawthorn Road – West Midlands
• Leicester, Evington Rd – Leicestershire
• Leicester, Narborough Road – Leicestershire
• Narborough, Station Road – Leicestershire
• Peterborough, Mayors’ March – Cambridgeshire
• Sprowston, Chartwell Road – Norfolk
• Stafford, Baswich Lane – Staffordshire
• Wigston, Blaby Road – Leicestershire
• Yardley, Stoney Lane – West Midlands
• Cromer, Middlebrook Way – Norfolk
• Erdington, High Street – West Midlands
• Shepshed, Hallcroft – Leicestershire

Millets

The outdoor retailer has launched huge clearance sales across six stores, offering 30% off all stock before branches close.

Branches in Lowestoft, York, Douglas and Grimsby are set to reopen under Millets’ sister brand, ‘GO Outdoors’. However, the store in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, will close its doors permanently and there are no plans to reopen.

Evans Cycles

British bicycle retailer Evans Cycles will bid farewell to one of its main locations later this year. Shoppers who frequent the Gateway Shopping Center branch in Trowbridge will see it remain open over Christmas and New Year, although it will close in the first week of January.

The branch is already displaying “closing” signs in the windows announcing a 20 percent discount on selected inventory.