SHUTTING UP
Big high street retail chain to close ANOTHER shop after already shutting 35 sites following rescue deal
Why is the high street in trouble? Watch our video above
A POPULAR high street fashion brand is shutting another store just months after collapsing into liquidation — and locals are gutted.
Select, a popular high street fashion chain, is closing its Grantham store on May 10, 2025.
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This announcement has upset local shoppers, who fear the town centre is losing its clothing stores.
Posting the heartbreaking news on Facebook, the store said: "It is with a heavy heart that we tell all our lovely customers that our store will be closing.
"As far as we are aware our last trading day is May 10.
"I just want to take a minute to say thank you for all your support over the years."
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Shoppers in the Lincolnshire town were quick to share their dismay, with one writing: "We will soon have no clothing stores left in Grantham."
Another said: "Are you kidding me."
A third added: "Nooo! This is awful news!"
And a fourth chimed in: "Oh wow we literally have nothing in this town – such bloody shame."
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The closure is surprising because the Grantham branch was one of 47 stores rescued by Essence Fashion Limited after Select went into liquidation in April 2025.
Select has faced significant financial difficulties. In 2019, it fell into administration but was bought out by Genus UK Limited.
Why are shops closing stores?
Genus UK also went into administration in 2022, and the chain was subsequently owned by Turkish businessman Cafer Mahiroglu.
In late 2024, Select entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), a process to manage debt repayment, with Moorfields as advisors.
This was followed by the closure of 35 stores in March 2025, where staff were left without wages or redundancy pay.
Although the remaining 48 stores were initially scheduled to close by the end of the same month, The Sun revealed that Essence Fashion Limited had entered into a licensing agreement with Select Fashion at the end of February.
The agreement gives Essence Fashion Limited permission to operate and manage the business under the Select Fashion name for a period of six months, with an option to acquire the company's assets.
This arrangement has so far allowed 48 stores to remain open, including the branch in Grantham.
However, with the Grantham store set to close, the number of open Select branches will drop to 47.
It is still unclear if more closures will follow.
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.
Elsewhere, Smiggle, known for its colourful, quirky pens, lunchboxes and school bags, revealed that it is shutting up shop at the Darwin Centre in Shrewsbury later this month.
Whilst, B.D Price, a beloved toy and bike store announced its closure after 160 years in business.
The 84-year-old owner revealed that the cost of living crisis has led to a reduction in sales and to the costs of running the business skyrocketing.
The news comes as both independent and industry giants have been struggling with rising costs and reduced footfall over the past few years.
Dozens of shops are set to close across the country before the end of the month in the latest blow to UK high streets.
Just a few months into 2025 and it's already proving to be another tough year for many major brands.
Rising living costs - which mean shoppers have less cash to burn - and an increase in online shopping has battered retail in recent years.
In some cases, landlords are either unwilling or unable to invest in keeping shops open, further speeding up the closures.
Smiggle isn't the only stationary shop shutting its doors, more WHSmiths stores are set to close this month.
The huge sports retailer, Sports Direct is axed its Newmarket Road store in Cambridge on April 18.
Whilst, Red Menswear in Chatham in Medway, Kent, shut for the final time on Saturday, March 29, after selling men's clothing since 1999.
A couple months ago, Essential Vintage told followers on social that it would be closing down after they had been "priced out" because of bigger players in the market such as Vinted.
Jewellery brand Beaverbrooks is also shutting three shops early this month.
New Look bosses made the decision to axe nearly 100 branches as they battle challenges linked to Autumn Budget tax changes.
Approximately a quarter of the retailer's 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire.
This equates to about 91 stores, with a significant impact on New Look's 8,000-strong workforce.
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It's understood the latest drive to accelerate closures is driven by the upcoming increase in National Insurance contributions for employers.
The move, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October, is hitting retailers hard - and the British Retail Consortium has predicted these changes will create a £2.3billion bill for the sector.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
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."
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