Outdoor clothing chain with 60 UK sites to shut city shopping centre store as closing down sale launched
SHOPPERS were left stunned as a “closing down sale” sign appeared on the doors of a major outdoor retailer with 60 UK sites.
Regatta is calling time on its site in Dundee’s Overgate Centre in Scotland - just two years after moving in.
The store, which took over the old Oasis unit on the ground floor back in 2022, has given no reason for pulling the plug.
Neither has an official closing date been given.
Before the shop shuts its doors for good, Regatta shoppers can bag a bargain with up to 70% off items.
It comes as Regatta announced in 2024 that it was closing its shop inside the Dockside Outlet Centre in Chatham, Kent.
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A spokesperson at the time confirmed the closure to The Sun.
They said: "Regatta did not take the decision to close the store at Chatham’s Dockside Outlet Centre lightly.
"The closure comes following challenging footfall in the centre and to coincide with the store lease coming to an end."
The spokesperson added staff were informed of the closure within notice periods.
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News of the closure was met with shock by local residents and shoppers.
One said: "There won't be anything left here soon," while a second said: "Many more units will be closing soon."
A third commented: "Another one bites the dust" and a fourth simply added: "Shame!"
Why are retailers closing stores?
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."
