A HUGE bargain retailer with 450 branches is set to shut down another site after launching a closing down sale.
Poundstretcher is closing its store in Chilwell Retail Park, Beeston, Nottingham.
Staff at the chain’s store told The Sun that the store will bring the shutters down for the final time on Friday, July 26.
The store has now launched a huge closing down sale and shoppers have posted pictures of signs on the shop’s front on social media.
These read: “25% off everything. Closing down (this store only).”
Reacting to the news on Facebook, one shopper said: “Such a shame”
Another said: “Oh no, I was part of the team that first opened the store ! Memories.”
Commenting on the closing down sale, a third shopper said: “Bargains bargains. I’ll be there this afternoon.”
Poundstretcher shut its shop at Meadowbank Shopping Park in Edinburgh last month.
The store, which had been located at the site for over 20 years, closed for good on Friday, May 17.
Poundstretcher also permanently closed its branch in Peterlee, County Durham, on May 15.
The discount chain also closed 13 branches across the UK in 2023.
Sites in Grantham, England, Kilmarnock, Scotland and Ammanford, Wales, were all shut down.
However, the retailer, which has around 450 branches has also announced major expansion plans in recent years.
In February 2023, the retailer said it wanted to open 50 more stores before the end of the year.
The chain said it expected the store openings to generate 2,000 jobs over the next five years.
The discount chain opened 30 locations in 2022 as well.
It comes after the chain, owned by businessman Aziz Tayub for the past 18 years, was snapped up in April.
Investment group Fortress bought the retailer for a yet-to-be-revealed sum.
The deal will not have any impact on customers, staff or stores.
Poundstretcher is one of the UK’s biggest discounters, rivalling high street giants Poundland and B&M.
It specialises in selling cheap goods like toiletries, homeware, gardening and food and drink items.
The firm is based in Leicester and employs around 4,000 staff.
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.
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.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom on the high street.
Several major retailers have plans to increase their store counts.
IT'S not all bad news on the high street as several retailers are bucking the trend and opening shops.
