A HIGH street giant with 500 branches has announced the permanent closure of a store in just days.
Shoppers are devastated and cry “another one gone” as they prepare for the popular store to be no longer.
Next has announced it will be closing its branch at the Grosvenor Centre in Northampton town centre.
Locals have taken to Facebook to share their disappointment with one posting news of the closure.
The caption read: “So next is closing in the Grosvenor Centre, another one gone.”
One commented: “Nothing to go into town for these days. It’s so sad,” while another added: “We have nothing soon in this town.”
A third wrote: “That’s bad news for the town. We should support our shops. When I was younger we had such lot to choose from.”
A fourth said: “No surprise there such sad times for our town centre.”
The closure is planned for this Saturday and marks the end of an era for the popular retail chain at this shopping destination.
Next took on the unit when House of Fraser closed in 2014, around the same time Primark moved into the centre.
After a period of renovations, the Next store opened in 2015.
A Next spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that the Northampton NEXT store will cease trade on Saturday. Unfortunately, we have no further information at this time.”
It comes as the dates a major cinema chain with over 100 sites will close two outlets have been revealed.
Odeon Cinemas is set to close its Covent Garden and Surrey Quays branches in the next two weeks.
The Covent Garden site is set to close on Thursday, August 8. The Surrey Quays cinema will close for the final time on August 18, according to Southwark News.
A spokesperson said: “ODEON confirms it will be closing its Covent Garden and Surrey Quays cinemas, due to redevelopment plans
taking place at both sites by the respective landlords.
“Supporting our local cinema teams is our number one priority. We will be looking to secure jobs for as many of them as possible in one of our other local cinema locations.
“We would like to apologise to our guests for any inconvenience this will cause.”
The high street has been hit hard in recent years, particularly since the coronavirus pandemic when many businesses were forced to close their doors to the public.
High energy and wage costs, as well as business rates, have seen many retailers having to shutter stores.
Some big high street names have been lost since the start of 2023.
Wilko and Paperchase have both collapsed into administration, seeing hundreds of shops close and thousands of staff lose their jobs.
Wilko falling into administration left shoppers gutted as they visited their local stores for the final time to say goodbye to staff.
Other retailers have announced vast swatches of closures too, including Boots, which is shuttering 300 stores.
More recently, iconic chain Ted Baker has fallen into administration while popular beauty brand Morphe has shuttered seven branches.
But it’s not been all bad news across the sector.
Discount giant B&M has opened 27 branches this year, while Aldi has its eyes set on opening hundreds more stores in the coming years.
DIY chain Screwfix is also set to open dozens of branches as its owner Kingfisher looks to expand its nationwide presence.
And Lidl is eyeing up potential sites where it is keen to open shops while Paperchase has since returned inside Tesco branches.
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
The high street has seen a whole raft of closures over the past year, and more are coming.
The number of jobs lost in British retail dropped last year, but 120,000 people still lost their employment, figures have suggested.
Figures from the Centre for Retail Research revealed that 10,494 shops closed for the last time during 2023, and 119,405 jobs were lost in the sector.
It was fewer shops than had been lost for several years, and a reduction from 151,641 jobs lost in 2022.
The centre’s director, Professor Joshua Bamfield, said the improvement is “less bad” than good.
Although there were some big-name losses from the high street, including Wilko, many large companies had already gone bust before 2022, the centre said, such as Topshop owner Arcadia, Jessops and Debenhams.
“The cost-of-living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend,” Prof Bamfield said.
“Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult.”
Alongside Wilko, which employed around 12,000 people when it collapsed, 2023’s biggest failures included Paperchase, Cath Kidston, Planet Organic and Tile Giant.
The Centre for Retail Research said most stores were closed because companies were trying to reorganise and cut costs rather than the business failing.
However, experts have warned there will likely be more failures this year as consumers keep their belts tight and borrowing costs soar for businesses.
The Body Shop and Ted Baker are the biggest names to have already collapsed into administration this year.
