WHSMITH has named its nineteenth store marked for closure this year as 500 high street shops have been placed up for sale.
The stationary to sweet shop has confirmed yet another closure after revealing 18 stores would shut for good in the coming months.
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The 232 year-old British business also revealed it would put its entire high street estate up for sale, with The Sun naming HMV owner Doug Putman as a potential buyer.
It’s branch on Long Eaton’s high street in Nottinghamshire has already been marked for closure and is set to close on February 1.
Customers have branched the closure as “sad” with one saying the area would be left like a “ghost town”.
One said: “Another big empty shop. but not surprised..its so sad to see what Long Eaton has become.”
While another said they “used” the shop and would “miss it”.
A spokesperson for the branch told The Sun it was “disappointed” to be losing its presence in the area.
They said: “It is no longer sustainable to continue to trade from this location and the decision has been taken to close the store as a result of the forthcoming lease expiry.
“We are also extremely grateful for the commitment of our in store colleagues who we will support with this transition and redeploy to nearby stores, where possible.”
As for WHSmith, it already has plans to close another branch in Bournemouth later this year and in Woolwich come April.
It said that it would be closing its Winton branch in Bournemouth, Dorset on February 15.
It comes after the retailer, whose stores are a regular fixture in airports around the world, closed its Boscombe branch in the same town in June.
WHSmith has also closed down several stores outside Bournemouth this year, including in Bolton, Lancashire.
WHSmith is focusing on the travel side of its business where sales are growing.
In an update this year to investors, the retailer said it’s on track to open 15 stores this year, with a further 15 to follow “each year over the medium term”.
The retailer said it would be moving away from its high-street stores and has no plans to open any more.
Now a total of 18 sites have been confirmed for closure this year, following a number of closures last year.
Here is the full list of WHSmith closures taking place in 2025 so far:
- Bournemouth Old Christchurch Road, Dorset – January 18
- Luton, Bedfordshire – January 18
- March, Cambridgeshire – January 25
- Basingstoke, Hampshire – February 1
- Long Eaton – February 1
- Newtown, Powys – February 15
- Winton branch in Bournemouth, Dorset – February 15
- Rhyl, Denbighshire – February 15
- Bolton, Greater Manchester – February
- Accrington, Lancashire – March 15
- Halstead, Essex – April
- Halesowen, West Midlands – April
- Diss, Norfolk – April
- Newport, Wales – April
- Haverhill, Suffolk – April 26
- Woolwich – April
- Stockton, County Durham – May
- Oldham, Greater Manchester – May
- Orpington, Greater London – no date given yet
WHAT’S GOING ON AT WHSMITH?
The news comes after the iconic British business revealed it was looking to sell its entire high street estate.
WHSmith wants to shift its focus to its travel division, where sales are growing.
The retailer is working with advisers at Greenhill Investment Boutique to handle the sale with a deal hoping to be reached withing three months.
The Sun revealed Doug Putman, the owner of HMV is in discussions with WHSmith advisers about possibly buying the 500 stores.
A takeover of WHSmith’s stores by HMV could see a return to more records and CDs sold in WHSmith shops and a potential cross-over between the two brands.
But he will have to fend off competition from other bidders including restructuring firms Alteri and Hilco.
Modella Capital, which recently bought Paperchase and Jigsaw, has also been linked to a purchase by Sky News.
TROUBLE ON THE HIGH STREET
Just this month, bosses at a number of prominent retailers have revealed plans to cut stores from their estates.
Garden centre giant Dobbies closed 12 of its stores before Christmas to help shore up extra costs following a restructuring plan.
Meanwhile, Homebase has confirmed that six of its sites will close before the end of the year.
These include sites in Sutton Coldfield, Bromsgrove, Cromer, Fareham, Newark and Rugby.
Three more Homebase sites in Derry, Inverurie, and Omagh are also set to close in the coming months, along with a branch in Glenrothes near Fife.
The garden and homeware retailer crashed into administration last month, but around 70 stores were rescued by CDS Superstores, the owner of The Range and Wilko.
At the time it entered administration, Homebase operated 141 stores.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
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.”