END OF AN ERA
WHSmith brand set to VANISH from British high streets as firms place bids on 500 unwanted stores
The retail group has been in negotiations with several prospective buyers of the high street division for several weeks
THE WHSmith brand name looks set to vanish from British high streets after 230 years.
The retail giant is working to offload its entire high street estate in order to focus on its fast-growing travel business of shops in airports and train stations.
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For several weeks, WHSmith has been in discussions with a range of potential buyers regarding the sale of its high street stores.
The process, overseen by Greenhill Investment Boutique, has attracted interest from investment firms Alteri and Modella Capital.
Both firms are experts in acquiring and reviving struggling retailers, with initial bids for WHSmith's high street estate submitted last week.
Other potential buyers for the chain's 500 high street stores include Hilco, the former owner of Homebase, and Doug Putman, the current owner of HMV.
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However, according to , it's now understood that the sale of these stores will exclude the rights to the WHSmith brand name.
This means that even if all 500 stores are sold, the new owners will be required to operate them under a different name.
Potential buyers are expected to be given a set timeframe within which they must phase out the WHSmith branding.
That said, while negotiations are ongoing, it remains possible that the brand name could still be purchased outright as part of the deal.
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If no such deal is reached, the 230 year old WHSmith name will remain exclusively associated with its travel-focused stores, located in train stations, airports, and other transit hubs.
WHSmith has been contacted for comment.
Major high street retailer with 17 Scots stores to close 'a THIRD' of UK shops
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025."
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
"By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
More high street closures on the way
WHSmith is set to close 10 high street stores in the coming months, following the closure of several branches earlier this year.
Shoppers in areas such as the West Midlands, London, and Greater Manchester will soon be saying goodbye to their local stores as part of the retailer’s ongoing downsizing efforts.
WHSmith, which operates around 1,100 stores, has already shuttered eight branches this year.
The next wave of closures will affect locations in Accrington, Halstead, Halesowen, Diss, and Newport in Wales, with additional closures planned for Haverhill, Woolwich, Stockton, Oldham, and Orpington.
Here is the full list of branches and their expected closure dates:
- Accrington, Lancashire – March 15
- Halstead, Essex – April
- Halesowen, West Midlands – April
- Diss, Norfolk – April
- Newport, Wales – April
- Haverhill, Suffolk – April 26
- Woolwich, London – April
- Stockton, County Durham – May
- Oldham, Greater Manchester – May
- Orpington, Greater London – Date to be confirmed
Customers who rely on these 10 branches have expressed disappointment and sadness upon learning their local stores will be closing for good.
Posting on Facebook about the Halesowen branch closure, one shopper said: "Halesowen is becoming a ghost town."
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One customer commenting on the Diss closure said: "This is unfair for this town."
Meanwhile, a third shopper from Oldham jibed: "Couldn't make it up."
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.
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