CLOSING DOWN
Department chain store launches huge closing down sale as last shop set to disappear after 140 years
See which other well-known names have disappeared from the high street
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.
Beales, which was founded in Bournemouth in 1881, will close its branch in Poole’s Dolphin Centre on May 31.
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Starting today, the sale will clear all the remaining stock in the store before it closes its doors for good.
Items including furniture, fashion, gifts and cosmetics are being sold for up to 70 per cent off.
Beales chief executive Tony Brown blamed the “devastating impact” of the rise in national insurance contributions and the higher minimum wage for the shop shutting.
When the closure was announced, he said the business had become “unviable” as it prepared to take on further cost increases which were announced in the October Budget.
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He said: “This, coupled with the risk and uncertainty of further tax increases in the coming years, have left us no other option.
“We have been working with the Dolphin Centre, who have been supportive, along with our investors to ensure an orderly exit.
“Our team has been informed, as have our suppliers. We will ensure the exit is managed and no one will be left with a financial loss.”
From April employer national insurance contributions will rise to 15 per cent, while the threshold at which they are due will fall from £9,100 to £5,000.
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Meanwhile, the minimum wage will increase to £12.21 for workers aged 21 and over.
The news comes after Beales tumbled into administration in January 2020, which led to the closure of 22 of its 23 shops.
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It reopened three branches later that year in Poole, Bournemouth and Peterborough.
But the Peterborough shop shut in early 2023 while the store in Southport, Merseyside, shut last September.
At its peak the company had 41 department stores in market towns across the UK.
Hundreds of people have taken to social media to share their disappointment at the shop shutting.
Why are retailers closing shops?
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.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
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.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko 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.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
One said: “Such a shame, it’s about the only reason I go into Poole. I’ve bought quite a few things in there lately.”
Another added: “There will be no shops left soon…so disappointed.”
While another agreed: “Oh no I love going into Beales when I’m down at my sons in Poole. A fantastic shop, I spend hours in there.
“I hope everyone who works in there get another job and best of luck. I for one will miss it.”
OTHER SHOPS LEAVING THE HIGH STREET
Beales is not the only business to warn of price rises and closures as a result of the Budget tax hikes.
Shoezone said it will close a proportion of its 297 shops that are “unviable” after the Budget.
The retailer said: “These additional costs have resulted in the planned closure of a number of stores that have now become unviable.”
The shoe chain has yet to confirm exactly how many branches will close or where they are located.
New Look is also understood to be speeding up planned closures of nearly 100 stores - around a quarter of its 364 shops.
Huttons in London will shut its store in the Putney Exchange due to higher costs.
The gift shop became a local icon after it opened in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, family-run Lancaster’s Bakery in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, has closed its doors for good.
In a message to loyal customers online it said: “It is with the greatest regret that we are closing Lancaster’s Bakery from Saturday, February 1 after 119 years in the family.
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“The last couple of years have been very challenging with rising ingredient costs and utility bills, but the Budget increases in employer costs has made the situation even worse.
“Added to all these increases is the reduction in Business Rate Relief for small businesses.”
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