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Iceland, Marks and Spencer, Boots and Next will all bid farewell to brick-and-mortar shops this month.
The closures have been prompted by various causes including changing shopping patterns, and customer demand, both of which are long-term effects of national lockdowns.
It comes after months of announcements from different retailers that they will reduce their store portfolios, with some having already closed hundreds of stores.
Iceland and Boots, for example, are among those that have bid farewell to a long list of branches throughout 2023 so far.
Express.co.uk has rounded up the major changes to British high streets that will happen in October.
Iceland
The budget retailer announced that two more stores will close their doors for good this month. Though 15 Iceland shops have already gone this year, the company will continue to open new sites.
A spokesperson for the supermarket said previously: “Across Iceland and The Food Warehouse we have a portfolio of over 1,000 UK stores, and our retail estate has grown by nearly 200 stores over the last 10 years.
“We typically open more than 20 new stores each year, creating many new jobs and contributing to the growth of local economies.”
- Trinity Street in Huddersfield – October 28
- Fulford Road, York – October 28
Boots
The health and beauty retailer will close a total of seven sites this month with more to go in November.
Boot’s physical store portfolio will be reduced by 300 in the coming months to bring the number of shops to just 1,900 from 2,200.
Despite the major plans, Boots has confirmed there are no proposed redundancies. Instead, they will move affected workers to other locations.
- Windhill Road, Wakefield – October 6
- Upper Warrengate, Wakefield – October 7
- Glastonbury – October 13
- Uppingham Road, Leicester – October 13
- Kings Square, York – October 28
- Warminster – October 28
- Guildford Road, Woking – end of October
Marks and Spencer
Earlier this year, Marks and Spencer revealed that 67 stores will close over the next five years to save £300million across the company.
Exact dates for many closures have not yet been set, but the company has confirmed some of the branches that will definitely close.
Wrexham, Bolton and Greater Manchester are set to lose branches imminently, and it could well be this month. It comes after M&S sites in East Kilbride, London Fenchurch Street, Edinburgh and Middlesbrough already ceased trading earlier this year.
Next
It’s not just supermarkets that will bid farewell to physical stores this month, with fashion and home retailer Next also expected to close some of its sites.
Next has announced the closure of 11 more stores this year for various reasons, just months after it shut its huge shop inside Westfield Stratford City in London.
A Next trading update released on September 21 read: “We expect to close 11 mainline stores this year. Six closures are in locations where we forecast that the store would not achieve our target margin on almost any terms; two closures are due to the site being redeveloped; three further closures are as a result of being unable to agree acceptable new terms with landlords.
“This last category includes one large store where the length of the lease proposed by the landlord, on a high fixed rent charge, was not something we could agree to.”
