SHUT DOWN
Major retailer with 830 stores to close beloved shop after 40 years as shoppers fear ‘this town is dying’
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A BELOVED branch of a major high street name is set to shut after four decades – and locals fear it's another blow to their struggling town centre.
Superdrug will be closing its store in Grantham after over 40 years of trading on August 9th.
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The health and beauty chain, which has more than 830 shops across the UK, will lose yet another store, with locals already mourning the loss.
One upset shopper took to Facebook to break the news, writing: “Heard the sad news today that Superdrug will be closing down. Been in Grantham for over 40 years. This town is dying.”
Dozens of others echoed the sentiment, with one saying: “So sad. Grantham will have nothing soon.”
Another added: “Be empty shops everywhere soon x”
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It’s not yet clear why the store is closing or what will take its place – but the news has sparked fears over the future of the town centre, which has already seen several big-name brands vanish from its high street in recent years.
Last week, the town lost its Select store in a move that has devastated locals.
The news comes as both independent and industry giants have been struggling with rising costs and reduced footfall over the past few years.
One of these include Smiggle, known for its colourful, quirky pens, lunchboxes and school bags, which revealed it is shutting up shop at the Darwin Centre in Shrewsbury.
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Meanwhile, family business B.D Price, a beloved toy and bike store in Dudley, West Midlands, announced its closure after 160 years.
The 84-year-old owner blamed the cost of living crisis for a drop in sales and the costs of running the business skyrocketing.
Inside Superdrug's biggest UK store
Rising living costs leaving shoppers with less cash to spend and an increase in online shopping have battered retailers in recent years.
In some cases, landlords are either unwilling or unable to invest in keeping shops open, further speeding up the closures.
Smiggle isn't the only stationery shop shutting its doors, more WHSmiths stores are set to close this month.
Sports Direct axed its Newmarket Road store in Cambridge on April 18 while Red Menswear in Chatham in Medway, Kent, shut for the final time on March 29 after selling men's clothing since 1999.
Jewellery brand Beaverbrooks also shut three shops in April.
New Look bosses made the decision to axe nearly 100 branches as they battle challenges linked to the Autumn Budget.
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.
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It's understood the latest drive to accelerate closures is driven by the increase in National Insurance contributions for employers.
The move, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October, is hitting retailers hard - and the British Retail Consortium has predicted these changes will create a £2.3billion bill for the sector.
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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."
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