Financially

A MAJOR supermarket chain is set to close one of its branches soon, with another 34 also on the way out.

The food store announced the “difficult decision” it has made to close the store next month.

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Co-op in Leicestershire’s Derby Road in Ashby-de-la-Zouch will permanently close its doors on Saturday, November 22.

A statement from a Co-op spokesperson read: ” ‘Our store in Ashby-de-la-Zouch will close next month.

“Our priority is to fully support colleagues, who have been informed.

“We would like to thank the community for its support of this store.”

The supermarket giant has come under some fire for some time now for having two of its stores in close proximity with the Ashby Town Centre.

This came after the Central Co-op moved from the top of Market Street to near the existing Co-op.

The spokesperson added: “We carry-out reviews of our existing store locations, and, sometimes, only after very careful consideration, we take the difficult decision to close a store.”

The Central Co-op will remain open, with the next nearest one approximately three miles away in Moira, Swadlincote, Derbyshire.

It comes as the supermarket could shutter another 34 of its stores due to financial struggles.

The Sun previously reported that stores in Braintree, Chelmsford, Basildon, Thurrock and Southend are among other locations that are at risk.

Chelmsford Star Co-op said it is “struggling financially” and needs to merge with the larger Central Co-op society.

Issues are also said to have been “exacerbated” by increases in National Insurance contributions and the living wage.

Late last year, Co-op announced plans for a “portfolio reshape” which included relocation of stores.

The Co-operative has over 7,000 registered branches owned by 17 million members, and is reported to contribute around £35 billion annually to the British economy.

Co-op as an organisation organisation has, like most companies, been hit by the cost of living.

In December last year it was announced 19 Co-operative stores would be shut down across the UK due to “financial sustainability issues”.

The locations, based in various areas around Central England, include Leicestershire, Yorkshire, Norfolk and the West Midlands.

B&M bought three of the 19 stores, while Samy Ltd, a convenience retailer, snapped up 16.

OTHER CO-OP NEWS

This comes as Co-op is rolling out a major change to stores across the country.

The supermarket giant is replacing paper product tags with electronic labels throughout its whole estate over the coming months.

The retailer has already made the change in 340 branches but will roll out the tags more widely.

The chain said 1,500 stores will have the labels by the end of the year and will be rolled out across all its nearly 2,400 by the end of 2026.

The electronic labels are designed and created by VusionGroup, which also works with Asda.

Steven Logue, Co-op’s head of operations, said: “With convenience at the heart of everything we do Co-op is committed to continually exploring innovative technology that can improve how we operate.”

Co-op said the new electronic labels will show allergen and nutritional information and products’ country of origin, as well as deals and savings.

Sept. 16 (UPI) — Officials at U.S.-based website LimeWire have acquired the Fyre Festival brand after emerging as the winning bidder for the fraud-plagued music festival.

LimeWire officials said the purchase enables the digital music provider and the Fyre Festival to combine their brand identities and attract millions of new users.

“Fyre became a symbol of hype gone wrong, but it also made history,” said LimeWire Chief Executive Officer Julian Zehetmayr in a news release.

“We’re not bringing the festival back,” he said. “We’re bringing the brand and the meme back to life.”

The purchase will enable LimeWire and Fyre to start a new chapter that is “grounded in technology, transparency and a sense of humor,” according to the news release.

LimeWire was an early pioneer of online file sharing, which a federal judge ended in October 2010 by ordering it to stop illegally sharing files in a lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America.

LimeWire’s new owners resurrected the brand in 2022 and seek to do the same with Fyre Festival.

“LimeWire’s acquisition is not about repeating past mistakes,” the news release said. “It’s about saving one of the Internet’s most infamous cultural memes from extinction and turning it into something new.”

The Fyre Festival was a subsidiary of Fyre Media, whose owner was charged and convicted of wire fraud in 2018 for lying to at least two investors.

The Fyre Festival formerly sponsored a live music event and booked musical artists at venues across the nation.

Filmmaker Taika Waititi and his wife, singer-songwriter Rita Ora, last week announced they are producing a stage musical about the failure and eventual cancellation of the 2017 Fyre Music Festival.

As of July, over 53 million Americans receive Social Security retirement benefits. A good number of these recipients rely on the Social Security program for most or, in some cases, all of their retirement income, so it’s hard to overstate just how important the program continues to be.

According to the Nationwide Retirement Institute 2025 Social Security Survey, over 60% of Social Security recipients feel as though they’d be financially vulnerable if there were cuts to Social Security benefits. That’s not too surprising, given how much people rely on the social program.

However, what may be surprising is just how soon cuts to Social Security benefits could happen at the current pace of deficit that the program is running on.

Image source: Getty Images.

How Social Security funding works

Before discussing the likelihood of Social Security benefit cuts, it’s essential to understand how the program is funded, which is through payroll taxes. The current rate is 12.4%, with employers and employees paying 6.2% each, and self-employed people paying the full 12.4%.

This tax revenue is put into the Social Security Trust Fund, which consists of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund. The OASI program pays benefits to retirees, their families, and survivors of deceased recipients; the DI program pays benefits to disabled workers and their families.

The idea is that working-age people pay into the system to support current retirees, with the understanding that once they’re retired, they’ll be on the receiving end of this support.

What’s the likelihood of benefits being cut?

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) 2025 Social Security Trustees Report highlighted that the Social Security program cost $1.485 trillion in 2024, while generating only $1.418 trillion in revenue, leaving a $67 billion deficit for the year. Both major Social Security trust funds have experienced a decline over the past decade.

US Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Trust Fund Assets at End of Year data by YCharts

The same report noted that the OASI trust fund could be depleted by 2033, which would leave the SSA with the ability to pay only 77% of its expected benefits. Considering the number of recipients from the Nationwide report who said cuts would make them financially vulnerable, this is, to put it lightly, far from ideal.

If the current depletion rate continues, the Social Security Trust Fund could be underfunded by more than $25 trillion through 2099 (the DI Trust Fund reserves are not projected to become depleted during this period). If no changes are made, Social Security would need to cut benefits by about 23% beginning in 2034.

According to the Nationwide study, 83% of respondents are concerned about Social Security’s long-term viability, and 74% are worried that the program’s funding could run out in their lifetime. Unfortunately, at the current pace and lack of concrete solutions, these concerns are justified.

What’s causing the current Social Security deficit?

There isn’t a single reason for the current Social Security deficit, but there are four main causes contributing to the problem. The first is that baby boomers are retiring in large numbers, and there aren’t enough tax-paying workers paying into the Social Security program.

The second “problem” is that people are living longer, meaning they’re collecting benefits longer, increasing how much Social Security has to pay out each year. This is good for people, but bad for Social Security.

We’ve also seen an increase in high earners, which means less of their income is being taxed and paid into the program. In 2025, the most income that’s subject to the Social Security payroll tax is $176,100. Any money earned above that is free from the tax.

The last problem is that before the interest rate hike a couple of years ago, interest rates spent a long period at historically low rates. This is a problem for Social Security because the reserves are put into Treasury bonds to earn interest. Low interest rates mean less money earned on these reserves.

All hope isn’t lost

To end on a more positive note, it’s worth pointing out that this isn’t the first time that Social Security has faced funding issues, and in previous times, the federal government has been able to “fix” the issue.

The American political environment is a bit more unpredictable nowadays, so I can’t say for certain if the same will happen. However, given the program’s importance to the livelihoods of millions of Americans, one would assume that it would become a priority for politicians on both sides of the aisle.