A MAJOR coffee chain with thousands of branches is shutting another one of its shops in a matter of hours.
Costa Coffee is closing one of its North Wales stores today.
The shop is located in 2-4 Market St, Ruthin, and is the second site to shut in the area this weekend alone.
It comes with a branch in Colwyn Bay also closing today.
A spokesperson for Costa said: “We’re sad to be closing our Costa Coffee stores on 2-4 Market Street, Ruthin, and in Bayview Shopping Centre, Colwyn Bay, which are owned and operated by one of our franchise partners.
“Both stores will be closing for trade on June 16.
“We would like to thank both the Ruthin and the Colwyn Bay community for their support over the years.”
Disappointed coffee lovers have taken to social media to express their sadness at the closure of the Ruthin branch.
One said: “It was the best for parking and access for people with mobility issues, very spacious and disabled toilets. Friendly staff too. Sad to see it go.”
Another wrote: “So many business closing and shutting up Ruthin, very sad to see Costa going !!!!! always busy after school and with takeaways !!!! Ruthin is looking tired, tourists will not want to visit !!!!”
A third commented: “We go to Costa Ruthin regularly it’s a shame it closing, we liked the relaxed atmosphere.”
A fourth posted: “Sad news. Called there at the end of last year. The staff were polite and efficient, cafe was clean and food up to standard.”
While a fifth said: “How sad for the staff, hope they get jobs soon.”
“Really sorry to see the Ruthin branch go, great coffee, and really brought people into the town centre, which is otherwise largely bypassed by most traffic and footfall,” another wrote.
Reviews for the branch on Google are glowing, with one branding it “excellent”, and “great”.
The news comes as coffee lovers mourn the loss of the Colwyn Bay branch closing today too.
Locals say they fear the city will soon become a ghost town after a chain of closures took place.
One customer said it is a “real shame” that the coffee shop has to shut down.
It comes after Costa Coffee brought the shutters down on its Rhyl branch in northeast Wales with immediate effect, citing “trade” as the reason for its closure.
It is important to note that just because a chain is closing a shop, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s struggling.
Most stores close because companies try to reorganise and cut costs rather than the business failing.
In some instances, a company may have to close a store because they can’t agree to terms with the landlord.
The coffee giant closed its Liverpool stores on Monday, June 10.
The closure is only temporary though, and it allows for the full refurbishment of the store.
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
Costa said it will remain closed for 16 days before reopening to shoppers on Wednesday, June 26.
It also pulled the shutters down on another one of its cafes, which fans branded a “delightful haven”.
The chain has already shut the doors to dozens of its sites in recent months.
Another will be heading the same way in July, however, when its Inverness branch in Scotland ceases trading.
The store is on Inglis Street, right in the city centre of the Highlands city and fans have been left distraught by the loss of the shop.
