UK high streets are suffering, with customers moving online and high rents and rates meaning it is increasingly hard to keep shops open. A raft of firms have announced closures, including the well-known brand WHSmith and Hobbycraft. In March, the former announced that is had agreed to sell its high street chain to Modella Capital in a £76million deal. This includes eventually rebranding most of its stores as TG Jones. WH Smith PLC now aims to create a “pure play global travel retailer”, with the group’s chief executive, Carl Cowling, saying it will become the leading global retailer.
The high street business will “operate for a short transitional period under the WHSmith brand whilst the business rebrands as TGJones”. Hobbycraft, meanwhile, has announced plans to close at least nine of its stores, with 18 more at risk as its parent company undergoes a radical restructuring. Modella Capital is planning an overhaul after buying the retailer in August 2024.
Below are full lists of which stores are set to close.
WHSmith stores set to close
- Halstead, Essex – April 12
- Woolwich, London – April 12
- Halesowen, West Midlands – April 19
- Diss, Norfolk – April 19
- Newport, Wales – April 19
- Haverhill, Suffolk – April 26
- Oldham, Greater Manchester – May 3
- Stockton, County Durham – May 17
- West Mall, Frenchgate Centre, Doncaster – May 31
- Bedford, Bedfordshire – July 5
- Orpington, Greater London – no date given yet
Hobbycraft stores set to close
- Bagshot, Surrey
- Basildon, Essex
- Borehamwood, Hertfordshire
- Bristol: Imperial Retail Park
- Canterbury, Kent
- Cirencester, Gloucestershire
- Dunstable, Bedfordshire
- Epping Forest, Essex
- Lakeside Shopping Centre, Essex
These WHSmith stores have already shut their doors:
- Bournemouth Old Christchurch Road, Dorset – January 18
- Luton, Bedfordshire – January 18
- March, Cambridgeshire – January 25
- Basingstoke, Hampshire – February 1
- Newtown, Powys – February 15
- Winton branch in Bournemouth, Dorset – February 15
- Rhyl, Denbighshire – February 15
- Bolton, Greater Manchester – February
- Accrington, Lancashire – March 15
- Alfreton, Derbyshire – January, 2024
- Ramsgate, Kent – January, 2024
- Oban, Argyll and Bute, Scotland – February, 2024
- Nantwich, South Cheshire – February, 2024
- Margate, Kent – April 20, 2024
- Bridgwater – September 2024
- Sale, Manchester – September 2024
- Bournemouth – October, 2024