Major DIY retailer suddenly shuts ‘excellent’ branch after slew of closures in huge blow to shoppers
A MAJOR DIY retailer has suddenly closed one of its branches in a huge blow to shoppers.
The 'excellent' store had to unexpectedly shut up shop after its landlord repossessed the property.
Hobbycraft in Strood Retail Park, Kent, has closed suddenly in what has been dubbed a temporary move.
Reacting to the news on Facebook, one user said: "I hope it can be resolved quickly and re-opened soon for the local customers and staff who are all lovely there."
Another customer customer wrote: "So pleased we went last night!
"What a shame, I hope they get the issues resolved quickly."
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A third wrote: "Hope they get it sorted as I use it quite a bit and the staff are excellent."
Hobbycraft has confirmed the situation was "unexpected" and that they are working with the landlord to reopen the store as soon as possible.
To prevent access, the site has also been secured with landlords allowed to do this when their tenant breaches the terms of the lease.
Commenting on the closure of the Rochester store, a spokesperson for Hobbycraft said: “This is an unexpected development and we are still trying to understand why our landlord has decided to attempt to evict us from our premises.
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"Hobbycraft is currently going through a process nationally, under which 9 of our 124 of stores will close and 16 are under review as we negotiate with landlords to make them viable."
The spokesperson confirmed the Rochester store is in neither of those categories, saying they're "trading well and payments to landlords are up to date".
They added: "We don’t understand why the Rochester landlord has chosen to act in this way, and we look forward to receiving a full explanation from them.
"Their actions have caused significant upset to our colleagues and disrupted trading at one of our sites.
"We have redeployed the Rochester colleagues to another site while we ascertain what is going on, and we are supporting them during this time."
The store opened in 2021 and it's closure is a huge blow to shoppers.
The closure of this store in Kent comes with news last month that Hobbycraft would permanently close at least nine of its stores across the UK.
Owner of Hobbycraft and private equity firm Modella Capital, announced they would be implementing closures as part of a sweeping restructure.
The change in circumstances is expected cause 126 jobs to be axed while negotiations take place over rent reductions with the landlords of 18 other stores.
Signage was put up around the store provided notice that property owner Ropemaker Properties Ltd would retake possession of the unit.
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Hobbycraft apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused by the closure, with customers advised to visit the nearest alternative branch in Maidstone.
Seven shops in Kent remain including Orpington, Canterbury, Crayford, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, and Ashfordand Thanet.