USE BY DATE
Major supermarket with 1,600 local branches closes second store in charming market town
Keep scrolling to learn about more store closures
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
A MAJOR supermarket with thousands of branches has closed its second store in a charming market town.
Faversham in Kent will no longer house any Morrisons grocery stores after it shut its convenience store on Preston Street.
1
It comes just two years after the UK's fifth largest supermarket chain closed its larger supermarket in North Lane.
This was later replaced with a Home Bargains.
Reports in reveal how managers had to make the "unfortunate decision" to board up the shop last Friday after its lease with the landlord ended.
The Sun has approached Morrisons for comment.
READ MORE ON MONEY
Morrisons Daily are essentially a smaller format grocery store that can be found at petrol stations or high streets.
It operates around 1,600 of the sites across the UK, in additions to its 500 larger supermarkets, after it rescued rival firm McColls from collapse in 2022 and replaced its branches.
Shoppers in the idyllic Kent town still have a choice of supermarkets to shop from including Sainsbury's, Aldi and Tesco.
Locals nearest Morrisons supermarket is now a 23 minute drive away in Sittingbourne.
Most read in Money
Its not the first time locals have had to wave goodbye to shops in the area.
Back in August, they had to deal with the departure of Whites of Kent.
Hollister Announces Closure of Aberdeen Flagship Store
Maria O'Mahoney who helped run the business with her siblings, said at the time the closure came as a consequence of declining trade.
Maria told : “Retail on the high street has changed considerably during this time and unfortunately trade has declined significantly.
“We think the closure of the banks around us has led to a lower footfall in the town and many people shop differently now, with online shopping a part of our next-generation culture."
As for Morrisons, the brand recently opened a new Daily in Glasgow following a partnership with forecourts company Highland Fuels.
This comes amid plans to cut 200 staff in roles across customer service, employee engagement and payroll.
A spokeswoman for Morrisons said at the time it carried out a "review of its people structure" to ensure it is "offering stores and sites a timely and consistent service".
It comes after Morrisons also said it would scale back operations at its Rathbones bakery hub in Wakefield.
The 28,000 square foot facility will stop making specialist bakery products and pump out less produce.
It also sold off 337 petrol stations in a £2.5billion deal to help pay down debts.
The group has been under increased pressure following the rise of German discounters.
Almost three years ago, it was overtaken by Aldi as the UK's fourth largest supermarket.
MORE SHOP CLOSURES
Plenty of other retailers are closing stores across the high street as households lean more towards online shopping and amid high business rates.
Soaring inflation in recent years has also dented shoppers' pockets.
The Centre for Retail Research's latest analysis suggests 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, shut for good in 2024.
Of those, 11,341 were independent shops while 2,138 were shut by larger retailers.
The data also showed over half the stores that closed last year were shut due to the store or retailer going through insolvency proceedings.
This is when formal measures are taken to deal with tackling a business's debt.
Retailers are also shutting stores in 2025.
For example, New Look is ramping up a store closure programme ahead of April's National Insurance hike.
Approximately a quarter of the retailer's 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire.
This equates to about 91 stores, with a significant impact on its 8,000-strong workforce.
The company has restructured its store estate twice in the past six years, reducing its portfolio from around 600 UK stores in 2018.
Read More on The Sun
For the time being, stores remain open as usual, and no final decisions regarding closures have been made.
Recently, New Look has confirmed that its branch in Porth, Rhondda Cynon Taf, will shut its doors for good this month.
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."
Topics
