Huge fashion retailer with over 250 locations to shut ANOTHER store in just days as closing down sale launched
A HUGE fashion store with 250 branches across the UK is closing another branch.
River Island in Worthing will be closing its doors for the final time at the end of the month.
The retailer has urged customers to head to their website instead.
The store on Montague Street is one of many to have closed down in Worthing town centre in recent months.
Traders in the area have blamed roadworks and increased parking charges for the huge dent in footfall.
Since January, the High Street has been partially closed for the installation of Hemiko pipework.
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The parking charges have also spiked in Worthing town centre, with visitors being forced to pay on their arrival, rather than as they leave.
The seaside branch isn't the only River Island store to shut over the last few months.
The Chesterfield and Corby locations have also closed down.
Elsewhere, high street fashion chain New Look has begun to close stores as it scales back its UK footprint.
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It is understood to be shutting nearly 100 stores - equivalent to around a quarter of its 364 shops.
Stores in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, St Austell, Cornwall and Porth, Rhondda Cynon Taf have launched closing down sales.
Reports suggest that the company has been forced to accelerate the pace of store closures due to tax changes in the Autumn Budget.
Other high street names like Sports Direct and WHSmith have also shut stores or announced downsizing in recent months.
Charity shops have also been affected, with Age UK in Silsden, West Yorkshire, closing after 32 years in the town.
The owner on the Facebook group Silsden Gossip last week: "Just a reminder that the Age UK closing down sale (50%) off starts tomorrow.
"17th of May is our last trading day and we are not accepting further donations from today as we have plenty of stock to still get out.
"It’s very sad and the end of an era for our community but let’s go out with a bang."
Sadened by the news, one shopper wrote: "I always loved this shop, both as a customer, and donated, really sad you are closing, such a shame, you will be missed."
Another commented: "It’s very sad to see you all go, love a little rummage once a week!
"A town without a charity shop is just wrong."
Beales, one of Britain's oldest department stores, has launched a closing down sale before it shuts its last remaining shop after more than 140 years.
The company will shut its branch in Poole's Dolphin Centre on May 31.
The sale includes fashion, furniture, gifts and cosmetics, being sold for up to 70% off.
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According to the British Retail Consortium, a mix of higher running costs, tax changes, and increased National Insurance contributions are placing a £2.3 billion burden on the retail sector, pushing more shops off the high street.
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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."
