HIGH street shops have had another terrible 12 months — with almost 13,500 closing for good.
Around 37 a day shut in 2024, a 28 per cent rise on 2023 levels, according to the Centre For Retail Research.
And the number of shoppers fell again, with December termed a “drab” month.
Total UK footfall over the year fell 2.2 per cent on 2023 while December saw shopper visits drop 2.5 per cent compared with the previous year, according to the British Retail Consortium‘s Sensormatic Footfall Monitor.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “A drab December which saw fewer shoppers in all locations capped a disappointing year for UK retail footfall.”
High streets and shopping centres were hit hardest as customers chose retail parks for free parking and the variety of larger stores.
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Ms Dickinson added: “Unfortunately, investment in town centres and high streets is held back by our outdated business rates system, which penalises them.”
Northern Ireland had the biggest decline in footfall at 5.8 per cent, followed by Wales, down 2.6 per cent, England 2.1 per cent and Scotland 1.5 per cent.
Last week, figures from analysts Rendle Intelligence suggested the festive period was “disastrous” for retailers, with footfall down 11.4 per cent on last year over the final full week before Christmas.
Of the 13,479 shops that shut in 2024, more than half were insolvencies, while almost 6,000 were closed through cost-cutting.
The vast majority of closures — 11,341 — were independent retailers.
The Centre for Retail Research warned that “worse is set to come in 2025”.
It expects store closures to rise to around 17,350 during the year — with around 14,660 coming from independent retailers.
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Factory fall, too
FACTORY output shrank at the fastest rate for 11 months in December.
Businesses faced “a stalling domestic economy, weak export sales and concerns about future costs”, the S&P Global UK manufacturing PMI survey reported.
December’s output score was 47, down from 48 in November, with below 50 indicating shrinkage.
Chrys and make-up
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STRUGGLING cosmetics company Revolution Beauty has settled a legal claim brought by former major shareholder Chrysalis Investments.
The make-up business will hand over a “non-material sum”, which was not disclosed.
Chrysalis had claimed for more than £45million over multi-million losses when shares in Revolution Beauty crashed after accounting irregularities were investigated.
It bought £40million-worth of shares in the skincare company when it floated in 2021.
But it sold its holding in late 2022 for about £5.7million.
Revolution sells make-up, skincare and hair and body products online and through concessions.
It said the “confidential” settlement was reached without any admission of liability from either firm — and that Chrysalis will not be taking any legal claim forward.
Under its new boss Lauren Brindley, Revolution Beauty is being revamped to turn around its fortunes.
Last November it posted pre-tax losses of £10.9million for the first six months of 2024 against profits of £400,000 a year earlier.
But it said sales of its “core” ranges climbed 6 per cent overall in the first half.
Evri’s new high
DELIVERY company EVRI said it delivered a record 173million parcels over the nine weeks to December 28.
The firm, previously Hermes, surpassed its 2023 festive total of 150million — averaging 2.7million parcels a day.
It also reached a new weekly best of 24.7million deliveries in a week during the Black Friday sales.
Boss Martijn de Lange said of the performance: “We continue to see fast growth towards our five-year target to become a billion-parcels-a-year business.”
Blanket success for Lidl
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SALES at budget supermarket chain LIDL leapt last month, as shoppers snapped up 16million pigs in blankets in the four weeks before Christmas Day.
Sales were up 7 per cent as turnover for the month topped £1billion. Party food sales rose by a third, while champagne sales grew by a quarter.
Lidl’s share of the UK grocery market grew in 2024 and it said it attracted almost two million more customers over the festive season.
That helped it flog almost 8million stuffing balls and 2million litres of gravy, as well as a turkey every second.
Lidl GB boss Ryan McDonnell said: “We’re excited to build on our momentum and growing our presence across the country.”
Analysts at Kantar said Lidl was the fastest-growing bricks-and-mortar grocer over the past quarter, helping it to close on Morrisons’ position as the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket group.
Cov bank on tie-up
COVENTRY Building Society has completed its takeover of The Co-Operative Bank, returning the struggling institution to mutual ownership.
The joint business will have assets of about £89billion and around 4.5million members and customers.
Coventry boss Steve Hughes said: “We’re excited about what this means for our future.”
The Co-operative Bank will continue to operate as a separate subsidiary for now.
Flying the Co-op
THE CO-OP will open 75 new stores across the country this year and refurbish up to 80 existing sites.
Last year it opened more university campus sites, as well as a first in a hospital and at the HMS Collingwood naval training base. It hopes to grow to eight million members by 2030.
Matt Hood, Co-op’s managing director, said: “We want everyone to have easy access to a Co-op store.”
The first new stores to open in 2025 will be in Salford, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Cardiff, Somerset and Kent.