A HIGH-END supermarket chain is set to close it branch in a city centre after 16 years.
The upmarket grocer Booths, dubbed the “Waitrose of the North”, will close its store in Ripon.
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It comes as the store struggled to generate a profit in the Yorkshire cathedral city, the BBC has reported.
The lease of the Marshall Way branch is likely to be taken over by Tesco, it is understood.
Residents have told the broadcaster that they will be “sorry to see it go”.
While Booths has 27 stores across the north of England, only three are in Yorkshire.
The majority of its locations are dotted across Lancashire and Cumbria.
Booths’ other Yorkshire stores in Ilkley and Settle are expected to remain open.
Owner of The Little Ripon Bookshop Simon Edwards, whose shop opened around the same time as the Ripon Booths in 2009, told the BBC: “Booths has an affinity with our shop – we both attract customers who appreciate the human touch.
“If it was closing and no one was replacing it, we would be worried, especially with the new Next store opening out of town, next door to the expanded M&S food hall.
“It’s a relief that Tesco will be taking it over and it won’t be empty.
“Ripon was probably a bit of an outlier for Booths. When you get to Lancashire, you see them everywhere and it’s much better known.”
The cathedral city still boasts a Sainsbury’s in its town centre, as well as a nearby Aldi, a Morrisons to the south – and an M&S food hall at St Michael’s Retail Park.
Residents expressed their sadness at Ripon Booths’ closure to the BBC.
Jill Smith, who drives five miles to do her shopping there, told the broadcaster: “I like the fact the staff are very friendly and it’s just got some different bits and pieces in that you don’t get in Tesco.
“They seem to support local producers. So it’s just sad, but it’s just the way things are.”
Why are retailers closing stores?
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.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April 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.
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.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has 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.”
Avril Kernow said she would be unlikely to go back when the store becomes a Tesco.
She said: “We quite like Booths. The others are all much the same.
“You always get something a bit different in there.
“It isn’t always cheap, but it’s good and the staff are good.
“And it’s convenient, so we think it’s a shame.”
Ripon MP Sir Julian Smith said: “I am grateful to Booths for their years of service to Ripon.
“Tesco’s decision to take over the site shows confidence in the city’s future, and I stand ready to work with Tesco to ensure the transition supports the community.”
