The British high street has taken a major hit with thousand of stores shutting its doors including WHSmith, Homebase and Greggs. Now, a huge charity shop chain has joined the long list, with it set to close down a significant number of its branches within days. Scope, a disability charity in England and Wales, announced back in January that it could close a number of its 138 stores as a result of declining footfall on high streets and surging costs. Chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said external factors had "made trading harder".
The company had faced a number of increasing costs including rents, energy and staffing, as well as the cost of living having an impact on customers. Mr Hodgkinson said: "As a result, and to ensure our funds are best focused upon our chartiable purpose, we have to let our teams know that we will be putting forward proposals to close some of our shops, in stages, over the next 18 months."
The first 41 shops are set to close by March 31, 2025 and a further 31 are expected to shut between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026. The proposals last phases of five more shops would close its doors when their leases come up for a renewal or when there is a break.
At least 22 of Scope's underperforming branches have already closed including stores including in Haywards Heath and Southampton and several other stores have already confirmed they will be following in those footsteps with plans to shut its doors.
The charity chain's branch in Castleford closed on March 17, the same day as its Haywards Heath store. A store in Binford Place, Bridgewater has confirmed it will close on March 29.
According to The Daily Mail, the following stores will close by March 31.
