A MAJOR charity shop chain has revealed it will shut down another store ahead of 47 more closing for good.
Its branch in Kendal is due to close later this year, after its branch in neighbouring Workington closed earlier this year.
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That leaves just one Scope branch in Cumbria in Windermere, which will remain open.
The news has come as a blow to locals, who moaned: “It says something when the charity shops are failing.”
While another shopper cried: “Another closed shop on our main street, such a shame.”
Debbie Boylen, head of retail at disability equality charity Scope, said: “Our charity shop in Windermere remains profitable and will continue to trade.
“We’re very sad to confirm, our charity shop in Kendal will be closing, with the date is to be confirmed. ”
She added: “Our Workington charity shop closed in March 2025. We’ve had such incredible support from the wonderful and generous communities. We never take the decision to close our stores lightly. “
Scope, a disability charity in England and Wales, warned back in January that it could close a number of its 138 stores.
At the time, the charity’s bosses said the decision was being considered in the face of declining footfall on high streets and spiralling costs.
Chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said external factors had “made trading harder”.
The chain has faced rising rents, soaring energy costs, increased staff costs and the cost of living squeezing customers.
It comes as the charity has already closed four locations this month across Newport, Southampton, Atherstone and Welling.
Five stores will also be closing down in May, with the locations yet to be revealed.
This is on top of 18 closures made in March, which are listed below:
- Amersham
- Barking
- Bangor
- Birkenhead
- Bishop Auckland
- Castleford
- Devizes
- Dewsbury
- Eastbourne
- Haywards Heath
- Lewisham
- New Milton
- Orpington
- Parkstone
- Scunthorpe
- Shirley (Southampton)
- Skipton
- Workington
These are the six shops that closed during the consultation period:
- Bexhill
- Hertford
- Mitcham
- Petersfield
- Scarborough
- Worthing
TROUBLE ON THE HIGH STREET
Plenty of other discount and charity shops are struggling as shoppers have less cash to part with at the till.
In March, Poundland‘s parent company, Pepco, enlisted advisory firm Teneo to oversee the potential sale of its UK business.
The decision followed Pepco’s announcement that it is exploring “all strategic options” to separate Poundland from its portfolio of brands.
The Polish-based group had hinted that it may shift its focus towards its more profitable operations across Europe.
It is gearing up to close a handful of stores this May.
The Centre for Retail Research’s latest analysis suggests 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, shut for good in 2024.
Of those, 11,341 were independent shops while 2,138 were shut by larger retailers.
The data also showed over half the stores that closed last year were shut due to the store or retailer going through insolvency proceedings.
This is when formal measures are taken to deal with tackling a business’s debt.
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.”
