A BELOVED branch of a major fashion chain is set to close its doors for good next week.
It came as a shock to locals after serving a long stint on the high street.
Shoppers in Salisbury have one week left to visit lifestyle retailer Joules, as the store prepares to close its doors permanently.
A notice posted on the shop window of the New Canal Street branch last week confirmed that the store will close on Easter Monday, April 21.
The sign reads: “This store is closing. We’ve taken the decision to close this store on April 21.
"We’d like to thank you for supporting us over the years.
"And remember, you can always find us online at joules.com.”
Shocked customers took to Facebook to express their disappointment.
One person wrote: "Another shop closing! Salisbury needs to wake up before it dies in its sleep. Parking is too expensive and the restrictions too extensive!"
Another complained: "Sad, another good shop leaving the city, soon won’t be any left that are worth a visit."
Founder and chief executive Tom Joule confirmed that the closure was a "difficult decision" but was inevitable "after a thorough review of retail operations."
The Salisbury store is among several affected following the company’s financial restructuring.
Joules was bought out of administration by Next in 2023 in a deal worth £34million.
At the time, Next’s chief executive Lord Simon Wolfson said he was optimistic about the future of the brand, highlighting the potential in combining Joules’ “exceptional product, marketing and brand building skills with Next’s Total Platform infrastructure”.
The acquisition resulted in the retention of around 100 stores, with plans to close 19 locations, impacting 133 jobs across the UK.
The Stratford store is one of several locations that have closed over the past year as part of ongoing restructuring efforts.
In Scotland, the Joules branch in Oban shut its doors for the final time in February.
Similarly, the store at The Lexicon shopping centre in Bracknell ceased trading in January.
Shoppers can still browse the entire Joules collection on its website.
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April 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.
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."
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has 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."
Since the pandemic, retailers across the UK have faced mounting pressure as consumers cut back on spending amid a soaring cost of living crisis.
The rise in energy prices and a lasting shift towards online shopping have further strained high street businesses.
Over the past year, a wave of store closures has swept through towns and cities, with more expected in the coming months.
Well-known brands such as Wilko and Paperchase have collapsed, while many others continue to scale back operations in a bid to reduce costs.
Retailers have been forced to make tough decisions, with some unable to absorb increased overheads and declining footfall.
As a result, several major chains are closing stores permanently.
Boots is set to shut 10 more stores in the coming weeks as part of wider plans to reduce its UK portfolio by 300 sites.
Other recent closures include:
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