A MAJOR fashion chain is preparing to close another store ahead of a restructuring which has placed up to 230 stores at risk.
River Island will shutter a branch in Banbury on June 28, giving customers just a few days to say their goodbyes.
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A social media post revealed the tragic news, with locals in the area branding the move as “depressing”.
One resident of the area said: “Soon won’t be any big shops open in Banbury, getting like a ghost town.”
Another shopper added: “If people stopped buying online it wouldn’t happen.”
While a third added: “Gutted…..love River Island.”
The fashion brand, which has been sported by Paris Fury and Cat Deeley, has quietly closed a number of stores in the past few months.
A branch in Willows Place, Corby closed in April and a separate site in Vicar Lane Shopping Centre in Chesterfield closed in the same month.
The Sun has contacted River Island for a comment.
News of the closure comes days after it was revealed that up to 230 of the retailer’s stores are at risk.
The retailer is set to undergo a restructuring due to tough trading conditions.
The owners of River Island have brought in advisers from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to come up with money-saving solutions, reports Sky News.
The proposals are expected to be finalised in a matter of weeks, though sources have reportedly claimed no decisions have been approved on the retailer’s future.
Accounts for River Island Clothing Co for the year ending December 30 2023 showed the firm made a £33.2million pre-tax loss.
Then the turnover during the following 12 months fell by more than 19% to £578.1million.
In January, River Island hired consulting firm, AlixPartners, to undertake work on cost reductions and profit improvement.
However it is now understood PwC has now taken over.
TROUBLE FOR BRITISH FASHION BRANDS
A rise in online shopping coupled with Brits having less money to spend at the till has created problems for fashion brands.
New Look has closed a number of stores in the UK and it’s entire estate in the Republic of Ireland.
Bosses at the women’s fashion brand have blamed hikes to National Insurance for the move.
Earlier this year, Select Fashion closed 35 branches across the UK after it entered into liquidation.
Ted Baker was also forced to close over 30 stores last year after it went bust.
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.”
